


Unfaltering Bereavement

by Smiling_Seshat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Last of Us
Genre: For Want of a Nail, Gen, Search for a Cure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 08:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 53,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12700878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smiling_Seshat/pseuds/Smiling_Seshat
Summary: Transported into a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies, Harry must learn to survive while he searches for a way back home. On his journey to find answers, he encounters several iconic characters.(Being imported fron fanfiction.net)





	1. Bill's Town - 1

**Author's Note:**

> There are 12 chapters posted on fanfiction.net. I will be importing every chapter during the next few weeks after ensuring the formatting is good and after doing a little editing.

 

 

**.**

 

  
**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

**ARC ONE - BILL'S TOWN**

 

 

**.**

 

  
_Entering Lincoln_ , says the sign. Harry feels a surge of relief. One thing he learned the hard way about North America is how large the continent is. It is much bigger than he imagined when he saw maps of it as a child, in primary school. Sometimes he would spend weeks without finding a town, city or even a village to stop at and replenish his supplies. He has often been forced to live off the land, trying to survive.

He's been stuck in this post-apocalyptic world for five months, now, and he's starting to get very bored. The novelty of a place with naturally occurring Inferi died a while ago.

He takes off one of the straps of his backpack and brings the latter around, in front of him. He crouches down near the side of the road. His back is to the metal barrier that borders the road, the one made to keep cars from falling down into the forest below. Keeping a wary eye on his surroundings in case of an unexpected attack, he opens his backpack and pulls out a tattered map.

Harry possesses two maps. One is of North America, showing the USA and all of its states, as well as Canada and Mexico. The other one is the map he has just pulled out, which depicts the state of Massachusetts, where Harry is right now.

Lincoln is a decently-sized town, Harry sees. Its size means that there will probably be a lot of Inferi there, though nowhere near as many as one would find in a city. He will be on his guard nevertheless.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he stands up and puts the map away.

He has two choices, now.

The first one is that he could continue walking straight and follow the road until he gets to Lincoln. Unfortunately, from what he's seen on the map, the road makes a large loop before getting to the town, which would cost him time.

The second option is that he could jump over the barrier lining the road and land in the forest area that's just a short drop down. He can already see that there is a natural path there, made by the feet of people who have passed there before. He can see a water tower beyond the forest, standing tall and proud over the trees, far in the distance. Some buildings are visible, but they are mostly hidden by the trees. He could cut through that forest to avoid he loop the road makes and get to Lincoln faster. On the other hand, the road is sure to bring him to Lincoln, while the forest might just make him lose his way.

For the thousandth time, he wishes he had his broom. With it, he could have flown in a straight line towards Lincoln without any dead ends or zombies to stop him. Unfortunately, when that portal appeared all those months ago, he was on the run with Hermione and Ron and didn't have a broom with him. He was pulled into the portal and appeared in this strange, magic-less world with nothing but his wand and the clothes on his back.

Well, now he doesn't even have that. His clothes have been replaced in favour of something more durable quite some time ago and his wand was crushed three weeks ago when he was ambushed by some of those blind deformed Inferi with mushrooms growing out of their heads.

He pauses, realizing how absurd that last thought sounds.

Yes, now that he thinks about it, this world is rather strange, despite having no magic.

In the end, after some thought, Harry decides to continue following the road. The last thing he needs is to get lost, which is why he avoids using the forest as a shortcut.

The road is in good condition. Unlike some roads Harry has seen, this one is whole, albeit with a few cracks here and there through which flora is growing.

Harry advances slowly, staying near the rotting carcasses of abandoned automobiles dotting the road, ready to take cover if an enemy appears.

Nature has taken over this place. He can see it in the way moss grows everywhere unimpeded, the way a bird twitters angrily when he unknowingly approaches its nest inside a car lacking its windows and wheel, and in the way he has to climb over a pylon blocking the road because oxidation had made the proud structure bow.

Finally, after a little less than twenty minutes of walking, the first of Lincoln's buildings come into view. Harry sees a gas station and some small shops. Beyond that, the level rises as the buildings become two-story apartments and, further, they grow even taller. The town is too small to have skyscrapers, yet Harry can't help but find the buildings tall.

It's one thing to see buildings when people are there. In that case, the buildings are full of life and activity. They are welcoming. But it's quite another thing when those buildings are deserted. The town feels cold and empty, and the buildings just give the impression of giants looming over him in a threatening manner, full of unknown threats.

Feeling abruptly too exposed in the middle of the road, Harry hurries over to the gas station, whose glass windows and doors are broken and full of holes large enough for him to pass through. He doesn't even need to try picking the lock. Once inside, he relaxes. The walls around him make him feel less vulnerable than outside. Safer.

Most of the gas station has been raided years ago for food, and what food is left is mouldy and unsafe for eating. All the canned food is gone, though Harry didn't expect any to be left. Still, he searches the small gas station until he finds, hidden behind two dusty newspapers, a few plastic containers filled with honey, with the image of a smiling bee on each. Honey is a food that lasts a very long time, which is why it's one of the first things he looks for. The lids on each container are still sealed, which is good.

Rice is another thing which can keep for a very long time. Unfortunately, the gas station has either never sold rice, or the rice has long since been taken. He does find some matches, though, which is a positive thing. While he can conjure fire wandlessly, it takes a lot of time and concentration.

He wraps the honey containers in newspapers to avoid any unwanted spills in case they break open and places them in his bag. The matches are put in a small front pocket, next to a packet of tomato and bell pepper seeds.

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

Around mid-afternoon, Harry decides it is time to find a place to settle down. He doesn't want to wait until dark, when he would have a hard time seeing properly and might be taken unaware.

He finds a three-story apartment building that looks relatively safe and heads towards it. Crouching down near some rubble behind a trashcan, he picks up a brick and, without standing up, throws it through the entrance. The entrance has a broken door that leads into a shop which takes up all the ground floor.

The brick falls, clattering loudly.

He waits.

After approximately five minutes spent fidgeting impatiently, he concludes that there are no nearby inferi and that he can proceed.

He enters the building and makes his way up, verifying that each room he passes is empty. Before entering a room he waits, listening for any sounds, and after that he opens the door and throws a small object inside. Then he waits and sees if the noise attracted anything. Only after all those precautionary measure does he enter the room and look around, before continuing his sweep of the building.

He does that with every room, without fail.

He can't find a pot, so he acquires an empty aluminium can from the kitchen of one of the abandoned apartments, as well as shattered pieces of wood that might once have been furniture. A chair, perhaps.

Harry brings it all up to the roof, where he starts setting up the wood so that he can light a fire later. He goes back down and out of the building to pick up some stones and bricks from the rubble. They are to be placed around the fire to avoid any risk of it spreading.

As a precaution, he sets some traps around the building. Noise traps are the only kind of traps he's good at, so that's the kind of traps he places around the entrance of the building and on its different levels. If anyone or anything comes in, the traps will make noise and alert Harry.

His sense of precaution might seem overly paranoid to most, but since arriving in this strange world he has had far too many close calls and feels that there is no such thing as 'too much caution' anymore. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Harry climbs back up on the roof and blocks the door after him with a metal pipe, for additional security.

The roof is a nice place to be. It's entirely flat, empty, and is surrounded by a small ledge. It also has an excellent view on the street below.

It is a few hours away from sunset, so he lights a fire. He only ever uses fire during the day because it's too visible at night and would point a target on his location.

A makeshift roof has been set over the fire to spread the smoke and make it less visible in the sky. With that and the stones around the fire, Harry is confident that he won't accidentally set himself on fire.

He brings out the aluminium can and smiles reminiscently at the faded Coca Cola label, recalling all those fizzy drinks his cousin used to love, before Harry was on the run from Voldemort, and then stranded in this new world. Harry wonders if the Dursleys even miss him.

Harry uses his pocket knife to cut open the top of the can. He then points a finger at it.

_"Aguamenti_ ," he whispers, focusing.

Nothing happens.

He refuses to feel annoyed, and repeats the spell, concentrating on what he wants.

He fails again.

He tries a third time, breathing slowly, and something changes. His state of mind is still mostly the same, but he's feeling a small sense of urgency, which makes a trickle of water appear from his finger and fall down into the can, filling it in a few seconds.

It's one of the spells he's had to learn to perform wandlessly after his wand broke. It takes much longer than he'd like to fill the can wandlessly.

A wand is a tool to sharpen and focus a wizard's power. It helps them transcend their natural capacities. Without his wand, Harry has trouble achieving his usual level of power. That is why it takes so many tries to fill that can with water.

Afterwards, he places the can by the fire and warms the water. Once it is sufficiently hot, he digs through his backpack for the small amount of rice he has left, which he then places into the can to cook.

That evening, his dinner consists of rice and some of his reserves of salted dry meat. To quench his thirst, he drinks from a water bottle, unwilling to drink the conjured water in the Coca Cola can, because the spell doesn't last long enough for the water to stay inside his body.

He remembers Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. It was set in place to stop people from conjuring food and eating it, because conjuration requires a lot of power to be permanent, and it would be a very bad thing if the food disappeared when it has already been digested and is in a wizard's blood. Having parts of your blood disappear is not the best way to go.

He falls asleep on the roof and dreams of home.

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

The next morning, Harry is woken up by the sound of one of his traps being set off. He reaches for his glasses, listening intently. He is still on the roof, and so when he hears the insect-like clicking sound coming from the street beneath, his heart sinks. His fear has come true.

They're here.

As quietly as possible, Harry grabs his pocket knife and leans over the edge of the roof to take a look. It is just as he feared. There are several inferi on the road and unfortunately, they seem pretty intent on entering the building Harry is in.

During the months Harry has been in this world, he's encountered three different kinds of these pseudo-inferi. The first two look relatively human, and it's their erratic behaviour and lack of human intelligence that give their true state away. The third kind is the third stage of the infection. The sickness that creates these creatures is a fungus that perverts the body, and in the third stage, the mushroom takes over to the point that the inferi's head is a mass of misshapen fungal growths. Their eyes are gone and they are blind, but their hearing is unnaturally sharp. They are also stronger and more resilient.

Harry calls them the 'Blind Ones'.

The fungal infection that creates these walking corpses has nothing to do with inferi, but Harry persists in calling these beings inferi because it is the most appropriate term he could think of when he first encountered these creatures.

The inferi beneath him are all Blind Ones—Harry's least favourite kind of enemy. What he can't understand is why they are all forcing their way inside the building Harry chose to settle down in. Blind Ones use sound to orient themselves and Harry hasn't made any sound that could have attracted their attention, so how…?

_Oh_ , Harry thinks. One of those Blind Ones might have been meandering about and probably accidentally bumped into one of Harry's sound traps near the building's entrance. The alarm that woke Harry up is most likely what attracted the large group of Blind Ones.

He made those traps to warn him if an enemy came close, but they have turned against him. The noise has attracted those creatures and now Harry is trapped.

Harry could pick something up and throw it off the roof and onto the street below. The noise would attract the inferi already inside Harry's building and make them go out, which would make Harry's escape easier. But that tactic is too risky—the noise could also attract inferi from elsewhere and leave Harry with more enemies.

Stealth is the best way to get out of this situation.

Harry begins hurriedly packing his backpack with everything he took out of it the day before. Once he is ready to go, he leans over the side of the roof again. He blanches when he realizes that all the Blind Ones have entered his building already. There's no way for him to climb down one of the building's outer walls, which means his only way of escaping is walking down through the building infested with inferi.

For a second, he hesitates to just stay on the roof and wait for them to leave. But even if they do lose interest, there is no guarantee they'd leave. And who knows, if Harry waits, more of them might show up in the meanwhile. That would just make things worse.

Harry breathes in slowly and tries to find the Gryffindor courage he needs. He exhales, his heart calming. He squares his shoulders, and stands up.

He's ready.

He takes off the metal pipe holding shut the door that leads downwards, and opens the door. He breathes. Once. Twice. Thrice. And then he descends into the darkness bellow.

There are no inferi on the top floor. They haven't had the time to climb up there yet. Harry makes his way towards the stairs, but freezes when he hears the distinctive insect-like clicking sound of a Blind One. An inferi is coming up the stairs.

Harry retreats into one of the apartments. He grabs some glass shards from the floor, somehow managing to avoid cutting himself. Once the inferi is close enough, Harry leans out the apartment door and throws the shards into the hall, far away from the stairs and Harry. The Blind One hears that and starts clicking excitedly. It moves at a surprisingly fast pace towards the glass shards Harry has thrown, its arms flailing about in the hopes of hitting the prey it cannot see.

The inferi is isolated from its peers, now. Harry could kill it, but he isn't sure he can do that silently enough to remain undetected by the other inferi downstairs. Blind Ones use their hearing to navigate and hunt, and their hearing is incredibly sharp.

Harry could also walk past the lone inferi, go downstairs and stealthily leave the building. But if he is detected, he would rather not have too many enemies to deal with, which is why it would be best to kill the lone Blind One in front of him.

The inferi in question has stopped in front of the glass shards, moving its arms in large sweeping motions. It is excited, thinking prey is nearby.

It was once a human being, Harry knows, but the fungus has destroyed its brain. Fungal growths are erupting out of its head like tumours, obscuring the eyes and making the head look like an amalgam of repugnant mushrooms.

Without his wand, Harry knows better than to try to use magic for combat. The few spells he can cast wandlessly take too much time and concentration to be effective in a fight, and he needs to say the spell out loud, which the inferi will hear.

He decides to take out his bow and grab an arrow.

Harry used to have a shotgun, but after he ran out of ammunition it became a dead weight and he was forced to leave it behind.

He found the bow and a few arrows in a sports store. After his wand broke, the bow became an important weapon. Unlike the rifle, when he runs out of arrows he can make more using branches that he sharpens and shapes with a knife. They aren't as damaging at the steel-tipped arrows he found in the store, but they do their job.

Harry hasn't got a great aim because of the home-made arrows, especially since he's more used to aiming with a wand. Still, the Blind One is close enough for it to matter very little.

He aims at the body—the largest target, and thus the easiest to hit. He shoots.

The arrow flies and perforates the inferi's body. The creature staggers, but doesn't die. Harry takes out a second arrow just as the Blind One's noise level increases. Harry shoots again. This time, the inferi dies.

Harry rips out the two arrows he used, wincing at the squelching sound he hears. Then, with a sigh, he heads down to kill more inferi.

The second floor only has three Blind Ones. He uses the same technique as before to kill them: He uses noise to isolate a inferi from its friends and then he kills it. He cleans out the second floor stealthily and easily, but it's after that that the problems start.

He goes down to the first floor. Turns 'round a corner and comes face to face with a inferi. Startled, he steps back. Unfortunately, he treads on the broken remains of a porcelain vase. It makes an impossibly loud breaking sound.

The inferi's head snaps up and it gives a loud cry of victory as it moves towards Harry. Panicked, Harry shoots at it, but it's too late. The inferi's loud clicking sound has attracted its friends, who also start clicking noisily, gleeful at having found prey.

Harry picks up the remains of the porcelain vase and throws them far away. Hopefully the distraction will give him a few seconds. Then, giving up on stealth, he runs for the stairs.

He can hear the excited screeching and clicking of the Blind Ones behind him. He can feel himself panicking.

He goes down the stairs in large leaps, nearly twisting an ankle in the process. A Blind One is there to greet him at the end of the staircase. He grabs ahold of the railings and, using his momentum, both his feet lift off the floor to give the inferi a powerful double kick.

It falls over, stunned but alive. Harry jumps over it. He runs into the shop taking up all the ground floor. It is absolutely infested with inferi. All of them are Blind Ones.

They start clicking madly, heading straight for Harry.

Heart beating wildly, Harry dashes out of the shop. At least twelve Blind Ones are tearing after him. He can see that the noise is attracting more inferi from other buildings.

He runs past a gutted lorry, its back doors wide open. An inferi comes running out of the lorry and Harry shouts in surprise. He veers sharply right, nearly getting clipped by a second inferi that has been flanking him. Harry continues running down the street.

His throat is like sandpaper and he can barely breathe. He's always been more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner and it shows.

He puts in another burst of speed, but his body protests. He gasps, wincing in pain. He can hear the excited clicking of the inferi behind him growing louder.

At that moment, there's the sound of a gunshot. One of the inferi behind Harry falls down, presumably dead.

Near the other end of the street, in front of Harry, is a figure with a gas mask, taking cover behind a rusty car.

"This way!" shouts the figure, its voice undeniably male. The person waves Harry over.

Suddenly hopeful again, Harry finds the energy to run faster. Unfortunately, he notices that a Blind One has managed to sneak up behind the shooter. Harry still has his bow in hand, so he throws it at the inferi. It doesn't do any damage whatsoever, but is enough of a distraction for the other man to turn around and shoot the inferi.

"Follow me!" shouts the man, running towards a side-alley.

Harry doesn't question him. He picks his bow up and follows the man. He can hear the sound of the inferi behind them getting louder as the Blind Ones close the gap separating them from their prey.

"Don't touch that line, it's a trap!" shouts the man as they run. He's pointing at two metal boxes fixed to the alley's two opposing walls, both connected by a wire.

The man leans down and passes under the wire. Harry does the same.

They continue their run, but Harry darts a glance back just in time to see a inferi run into the wire, triggering an explosion that kills it instantly.

While the explosion did kill one inferi, there is still an ever increasing horde to deal with. The sounds of the chase attract nearby inferi who arrive and join the crowd eagerly chasing Harry. In other words, the amount of enemies is growing exponentially.

Harry continues running after the man with the gas mask. They reach the end of the alley and emerge in a shopping district. The road is so clogged with rusted cars that it is almost impossible to pass. The man jumps onto the roof of a car and turns to help Harry up.

The next second, the Blind Ones run into the first automobile carcass, the one Harry is standing on. They scratch at the metal, making angry clicking noises. They don't seem to understand they are meant to climb over the obstacle.

The masked man drags Harry by the middle of his shirt and pulls him along like a disobedient child. They make an awful racket as they jump from car to car. The inferi hear it and enter a state of frenzy. They are excited and know their prey is close. One of them manages to climb over the first car, and its brethren follow.

"Goddamn!" swears the masked man.

He turns around and points his gun at an inferi that's too close. He shoots, and the head explodes in a rain of fungal gore. Harry and the masked man reach the end of the cars and jump back down on the pavement.

New inferi were attracted by the noise and have shown up in front of them, blocking their way. The two are trapped.

"Help me clear a way through!" orders the man. He shoots at a few of the inferi, but there are too many of them. He's going to be overwhelmed soon.

They will not make it, especially with the Blind Ones climbing the cars behind them, slowly catching up. Soon Harry and the masked man will be entirely surrounded and helpless. They do not have infinite ammunition, and there are too many enemies for them to defeat. They cannot face all these enemies head on. At the same time, there is no way to avoid a confrontation and escape.

It's time to do something brave and foolish. Something Gryffindor.

Harry places himself in front of the masked man and opens his hand, pointing it at the inferi. It looks like he's gesturing at them to stop. And then, he shouts:

_"Bombarda Maxima!"_

Performing the spell wandlessly on the first try should have been impossible, but the desperation he feels creates a miracle. The pavement and the inferi are destroyed in an explosion so strong that it sends Harry and his ally flying. Harry falls on his side and gasps for breath, stunned. He looks up and sees the side of a nearby building collapse.

The inferi that were coming from behind have managed to climb over the cars and arrive on the other side. The explosion has confused them—they can't find their prey anymore and are wandering around the site of the explosion, several feet from Harry and the man with the gas mask.

The other man in question seems dazed by the fall, though the mask makes it hard to tell. He stands up, looking at the inferi crowding the explosion site. Staying to avoid the mob's attention, the man points in a different direction than the one he wanted to take before. Since the way he wanted the go has been victim of an explosion and is full of inferi, going elsewhere is best. They leave the scene quietly, escaping the horde of inferi searching for them.

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

The masked man brings Harry to some sort of small warehouse. Once they are inside, the man locks he metal door and takes off his gas mask. He seems to be in his late thirties or early forties, though stress has aged his face in a way that makes it hard to tell. His brown hair is long for a man, barely brushing his shoulders. His cheeks sag a little bit and though he isn't fat, he looks like he could stand to lose some weight. He's also half a head taller than Harry, with broad shoulders and an impressive build. Harry, who is still just a teenager, feels a bit intimidated despite himself.

"Who are you?" asks the man brusquely.

Harry puts down his bow, and then turns towards the man. "My name's Harry." Harry pauses, feeling awkward. Five months with no one to talk to has not done wonders for his social skills. He's also waiting for the muggle to start asking about the spell he'd used, but the expected question hasn't been asked. "Thanks for the help."

"Help?" repeats the man. "I did more than help you. I saved your ass, boy."

_Boy?_ thinks Harry, annoyed. _I'm seventeen!_

"I'm Bill," the man continues, "and this is **my** fucking town. Not only did I never allow you to pass through it, you never got permission to set foot here in the first place!" By the time he's finished, his voice has risen significantly.

Harry does not back down. "I didn't know." He doesn't cross his arms or do anything to make him look on the defensive.

Bill scoffs. "Everybody knows this is my town." He looks at Harry, his gaze calculating, and raises his firearm threateningly. "Were ya bitten?" he asks, pointing his weapon at Harry warily.

"What? No!" Harry denies. But the denial comes out too quickly and Bill just looks even more suspicious.

"I don't believe you," says the man. "Strip, or I'll shoot you."

"No," says Harry firmly. He refuses to be that vulnerable in front of someone he doesn't trust.

Bill just looks annoyed. "You'll do as I fucking say," he orders, his voice low and dangerous, "or it'll be your corpse on the floor in ten seconds."

"If I have to prove I wasn't bitten, then you should too."

Bill laughs. "I'm the one with the shotgun, kid. You're not in a position to make any demands."

"I blew those inferi up. I can do the same to you." The threat of magic has always been the best way to make the Dursleys cower, so he feels it's the best thing to do.

Taking a step forward, Bill says with a sarcastic grin, "A pet name for the Infected? How cute." He abruptly goes back to being serious. "I can shoot faster than you can set up explosives, so strip. Now."

Harry blinks, surprised. Has the man not realized Harry used magic to blow up those inferi?

"Now!" yells the man.

Thinking furiously, Harry starts slowly talking off his backpack. He needs a plan.

_"Immobulus,"_ he whispers.

It doesn't work.

Bill is getting visibly impatient, so Harry speeds up and starts taking off his jacket.

_"Immobulus,"_ he whispers again, focusing intently on the man in front of him. He feels something inside of him, but it dies down before it can do anything.

He sets his jacket down, and says the incantation of the Freezing Charm once more:

_"Immobulus!"_

It was too loud, and Bill aims his shotgun, but the spell hits him before he can fire. He falls down, all of his body unmoving save his eyes.

"I'm sorry," says Harry as he crouches down near the immobilized Bill. He takes away the shotgun and searches through the man's pockets for any hidden weapons.

As it was done wandlessly, the spell freezing Bill in place won't last very long. Harry could tie him up to keep him in place, but he feels that that would be going too far. After all, Bill did not do anything wrong. He was justified in asking Harry to strip, as Harry could have been hiding an infected bite. Still, Harry feels that his use of magic is justified, too. He isn't a prude, but there are some things he is not willing to do, even to prove he has not been bitten.

"I'm sorry," he repeats after thoroughly disarming Bill. "I didn't know what to do. I froze you because I didn't know what else I could do without being shot."

Bill will undoubtedly be very angry when the effects of the spell wear off, so Harry thinks it best to explain his actions while he still can and hope the man will be understanding. "I'm fine with quarantine to prove I'm not bitten, but I refuse to strip. I would rather not be naked in front of a strange man I barely know. I hope you understand."

Bill's eyes are moving around wildly. He is obviously either panicked or angry at the loss of control over his own body.

"It will wear off soon," Harry reassures. He sits down near a stack of magazines. "I'll just wait here until you can move again, and then we'll talk."

He could leave and continue on his way, but he doesn't. Bill has saved his life and does not seem to have bad intentions.

Additionally, if Harry leaves, then Bill will be left defenseless until the spell wears off. Something could happen and Harry does not want that guilt on his conscience.

He waits.

And he waits some more.

Ten minutes pass and Harry begins to feel impatient.

Bill stays immobilized exactly twenty-one minutes before regaining his mobility. The man rises, holding his head. He did not fall painlessly. His head hit the floor and though there's no blood, Harry can guess the man has a large bump on his head.

"Well," says Bill, looking at Harry warily, "that's somethin' I never saw before. What was it? Some sort of freakish hypnosis trick?"

Harry tries to stay unmoved when he hears the word 'freakish'. Life with the Dursleys has conditioned him to feel anger whenever he hears that word, but anger will not do him much good in his present situation.

"Magic," is what Harry answers.

Bill snorts and his expression, which was until now tense and unhappy, lightens up with amusement. "Sure it is, kiddo."

Bill's previous use of the word 'freakish', as well as the condescending tone he has just used, makes Harry forget about his decision to curb his anger for the sake of civility towards the one who has saved him. Bill's dismissal chafes and he wants to do something to change the man's opinion.

Harry can think of one spell he can get right wandlessly on the first try. He's had to use it so much that is has become second nature. He points his hand at his bow on the ground and says:

_"Wingardium Leviosa."_

The bow rises up in the air.

Bill's flabbergasted expression is priceless.

Harry knows it isn't smart to show off his magic. While the ministry of magic doesn't exist here and won't punish him for his actions, the law forbidding wizards from using magic in front of muggles is there for a very good reason. Muggles are human beings, and humans are greedy. If muggles are made aware of the existence of magic, they'd want demonstrations and magical solutions to all their problems. They'd also want to study magic, poke and prod at it in order to restrict it under rules of science and logic.

Harry is alone. He doesn't have Ron or Hermione with him. When he sleeps, he's vulnerable. If muggles are made aware of his magic, then they can easily get to Harry while he sleeps.

Five months ago when he arrived to this world, Harry decided that despite the lack of a ministry to punish him for performing magical feats in front of a muggle, he would follow that law as well as he could and only break it in case of mortal danger. And today, he broke that promise made to himself by performing magic just so Bill would stop being condescending. Harry feels dumb.

The first two spells Harry used were believed to be pre-set explosives and hypnosis, respectively. He could have gotten away with it without revealing himself to be a wizard. Bill's demeaning attitude blinded Harry with anger and made him forget all sense of caution.

Bill is poking the bow, trying to find a hidden string that might be holding the object up.

"Well I'll be damned. How…?" asks the man, fascinated. His gruff ways have softened in favor of wonder and awe.

Harry decides that honestly is the best thing to use.

"I'm a wizard. It's a family thing. All my family hid from normal people and when the inferi showed up, most of them died. I've been travelling alone for a few months now."

"Infected," says Bill.

"I'm sorry?"

"They're called 'Infected', not 'inferi'. Some people who lost family and friends might get offended that you're giving those creatures fuckin' nicknames."

So far Harry hasn't met any other humans in this world so nobody was there to tell him that. He has been calling those creatures names he felt are most appropriate.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't know."

Snorting, Bill claps Harry on the shoulder, the strength of it making the boy stagger. "No shit. You didn't know this is my town, didn't know how to avoid Clickers… There are a _lot_ of things you don't know."

Bill ruffles Harry's hair. Harry refrains from scowling at the gesture, since it means that Bill is easing up and trusts him more. Instead, Harry asks:

"What're Clickers? Are they the Blind Ones that were following us?"

Bill shakes his head in disbelief. "What kind of rock you been hidin' under, magic-boy? Clickers are the ones that look somewhat normal from the neck down, but have the fuckin' Cordyceps mushroom growing out of their head. They're nasty and I'm just happy they're blind, or fighting them would be a nightmare." Bill looks straight at Harry. "So what were you doin' in my town in the first place?"

Unfazed by he subject change, Harry says:

"Surviving, just like everyone else. I wanted to pass through the town and continue on my way."

"You going anywhere in particular?"

Harry shakes his head. "No."

Bill pauses, looking intently at Harry. He then nods to himself, having seemingly found whatever he was looking for. "Then stay. I could teach you what you need to know so you won't get a horde of thirty Clickers after you again. I also have food and supplies. In exchange, you could use some of your magic to help me around town. Explosions and levitation and shit could be real useful. Whatcha say? Mutually beneficial relationship."

Harry's five months of loneliness and hardship make the decision obvious. "Sure."

And if the man turns out to be untrustworthy, then Harry will make him regret it.


	2. Bill's Town - 2

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

After forming an alliance, Bill and Harry relax around each other. To seal their deal, they share breakfast. Harry brings out his salted meat and honey containers. Bill, who has apparently taken up the job of a farmer for a while now in order to feed himself, brings fresh milk and apples from his garden. They eat in peaceful silence, glad for a meal with such variety.

"So," says Bill after a while, holding a honey-coated apple slice with sticky fingers, "how is it possible that no one every knew magic is real? As a kid, I woulda given my left arm to see real magic."

Harry thinks over what he could answer. He knows this world has no magic, and Harry is the only magical being present. He does not want to admit being from another world, so he decides to give an over-simplified explanation instead.

"It used to be different. Centuries ago magical and non-magical beings lived together well enough. But when the witch trials began, the magical community decided to hide instead of going to war over it. All the magical plants and animals were hidden away. Things like unicorns, dragons and trolls were placed in zones kept hidden with magic. Every proof of magic was taken away until normal people thought we were just myth and fantasy. When the outbreak happened" - Harry is careful to avoid mentioning any dates, since he doesn't know when the outbreak happened exactly and doesn't want to give away his otherworldliness - "there weren't many hidden magical communities left. We were on our way to extinction. The infection decimated our numbers. I'm the only magical being left, now."

A nice lie to adequately explain his current situation.

Bill is envious. "Dragons, huh? That must have been quite the sight."

"Yes," Harry agrees, "it was."

"What else can you do? Do you have any more magic tricks up your sleeve?" asks Bill.

"I can create fire, water and all sorts of things. I can summon something from a distance and I can repair things. The bigger the effect, the harder it is for me to do."

Bill nods. "I'll set up a list of things for you to do. That way you'll pull your own weight around here. Using your magic to repair windows and doors should pay for the shelter and food I'll provide you with."

Harry frowns. "I can repair windows, but wooden or metal doors might not be possible." _Reparo_ works much better on glass and porcelain than wood and metal. With his wand it would not be a problem, but without it he might not manage to repair metal things.

"As nice as it would be, kiddo, I'm not helping you out of the goodness of my fuckin' heart. If I'm going to help you, then you need to help me in return. If you ain't capable of repairing those doors, I'll find something' else for you to do. As long as you get your ass working, I don't care."

After a moment of thought, Harry nods. "That seems fair. So..." He searches for a subject of conversation, something for them to discuss in order to get to know each other and cement an amicable working relationship. "I told you what I went through. What's your story?"

That was the wrong question to ask. Bill's entire face darkens in a scowl.

"None of your fucking business."

Inwardly, Harry sighs in annoyance.

One step forward, two steps back.

Harry narrows his eyes. "So I open up and tell you about my life, but when it's your turn, you back out? That's not an equal exchange."

Bill crosses his arms. "That shit's private. Don't think us helpin' each other out means I should spill my entire life story."

Harry rolls his eyes. "I'm not asking for your secrets. I have no idea who you are, really, and I just want to know more. Your job before the outbreak, your favorite colour, where you grew up… Anything you're willing to tell. I'm not asking for something you don't want to share. I just want to know you so you're not a complete stranger to me."

Bill hesitates. If he doesn't share any information about himself after Harry has done so, then he would be a hypocrite, considering he is the one who proposed a mutually beneficial relationship in the first place and such a relationship means there has to be an equivalent exchange. If Bill isn't even capable of equivalent exchange in casual conversation, then it does not inspire much confidence over their continued partnership.

"Well, I had a nephew. Black hair, green eyes and a bit older than you. You two look similar." Bill looks down at his lap. "His name was John. He survived the outbreak as a kid and Frank and I took him in. Frank is the one who's good with kids. I always had trouble with John." Bill pauses. "Two years ago… John got caught by a bunch Clickers and bitten. I never had the guts to end him, so I left him with the other Infected that I let live to serve as the town's protection." Grimacing, Bill looks away. "When I saw you running from all those fucking Clickers, for a second I thought you were my nephew, come back to life somehow. 'Twas stupid."

Bill's face is stony and hard, but Harry can see the man is affected. The way Bill has stopped looking at Harry, the way he bows his head and the way his body has tightened as if ready to defend itself from a blow are all clues of how much he cared (and still does) about his nephew.

Harry suddenly realizes something. "That's why you helped me and why you proposed that we work together. I remind you of your nephew."

Bill shakes his head, disagreeing. "Don't look too deep into it, kid. I've helped plenty other before you. You're not a special case just 'cause you look like someone I knew."

Harry does not believe the man. Bill obviously said that because he does not want to look soft. Nevertheless, Harry does not draw attention to Bill's poor lying skills.

"So who's Frank?" Harry asks.

Bill seems happy to steer the conversation away from his inferi nephew. "He's my partner. Well, was. Nowadays we just fight so much that it's a miracle we can still work together."

"What kind of work do you do?" asks Harry.

"We have our own gardens for growing vegetables and fruit. Frank helps me out. He's mostly in charge of drying grass and other plants for us to feed the animals during winter, and he salts the meat to preserve it. He has trade contracts with several other survivors who give us supplies we need in exchange for food. I take care of the gardens too, and I'm in charge of the animals." Bill nods at the empty canister of milk they had during breakfast. "That milk was from one of them. I'm also in charge of herding the Infected, stop them from gathering in one place and ensure they are spread out around town in some specific places. Me and Frank can't kill them all, so we use them as a way to protect our town against looters and thieves."

"That's smart," says Harry.

Bill shrugs. "It's a necessity. We can't protect the town by ourselves, so might as well use those things for somethin' useful." He pauses. "Can you do anything with your magic to help protect the town?"

Harry thinks carefully, trying to recall what he knows. "I have ways to attack intruders face to face." He can blast them with one of the many offensive spells he knows, assuming he can cast the spell fast enough and successfully without his wand. "I don't think I can set up a barrier or something around the town. I'm just not powerful enough. I could use some spells to help build traps, though."

Bill nods. "That'd be good. If you can't do that, I can just get you to use repairing spells on some things, or use your fireballs to kill some of those Infected. There are too many around."

Harry thinks back on the hideous faces of those Clickers, the ones he is used to calling 'Blind Ones'. They are very unpleasant to real with.

"Agreed."

Harry thinks over what he has learnt about Bill.

"Do you think I could meet Frank?" he asks.

Bill nods. "Might be sensible. If Frank doesn't know you're here with permission, he might attack you. Though…"

"What?" asks Harry.

Uncomfortable, Bill grimaces. "We've been on the outs, lately. Have this unspoken agreement to stay outta each other's way. I haven't seen him for a few weeks now 'cause the last time we saw each other we had a… disagreement."

Harry does not pry. "Will it be a problem?" he asks instead.

Bill takes a moment to think. "No, it won't." He stands up. "Let's go."

Blinking in surprise, Harry stands up too. "Now?"

"Might as well." Bill shrugs. "It's best to get this over with as soon as I can."

Bill heads over to a wall at the other end of the room with a ladder leaning against it. The ladder leads up to a large window that's too tall to reach through other means.

"Take your weapons with you in case we come across any fuckers on the way," Bill orders as he starts climbing the ladder.

Harry picks up his bow and attaches it to his backpack with a small belt he'd stitched there to hold his weapons. He tightens the belt to be sure it will hold, and then follows Bill.

They exit the building through the window. On the other side there's a closed metal dumpster that they step down on, before jumping onto the alley.

They are between two derelict buildings, and Harry notices a large amount of explosive traps everywhere. Since Bill's safehouse is here, it makes sense.

Bill opens a door that leads into the building next to his safehouse, and ushers Harry in.

The building is a large warehouse. It has big windows that let in a lot of light, illuminating the room much more than most abandoned buildings Harry has been in. There are pots of all sizes everywhere, with all kinds of plants growing inside them.

After taking a good look, Harry realizes that the plants are in fact specific kinds designed for human consumption. It's an indoor vegetable garden.

"We have several gardens like this one all over town," says Bill. "Sometimes inside buildings, sometimes in what used to be people's gardens. Sixty percent of it will be dried for winter. We grow much more than we need so we can trade some of it for certain resources."

"What kind of resources?" asks Harry, following Bill through the warehouse.

"Well, me and Frank, we trade with a group of nomads who make annual trips to the ocean with huge carriages to get salt. Since salt isn't something I can grow like a vegetable, Frank deals with them for it. Everybody in this state knows them as the salt merchants." Bill pauses to turn a pot around so that the plant can get more sun from what comes through the windows. Once he is done, he straightens up and continues walking. "There's also a nearby town who grows a lot of cereals and has medecine, so we deal with them too. Frank also has some contacts with smugglers who get ammo and weapons to us in exchange for food."

"That's nice," says Harry. "It's good to have that kind of a trade system so you have everything you need."

Bill nods. "There are a lot of broken pots and buildings in a fucked-up state. If you could use your magic to repair that, then we could increase our production."

"I can repair broken pots easily enough," says Harry, "but I'm not sure about the buildings. I'd have to see what state they're in to judge that."

"Fair enough," says Bill.

They reach a door on the other side of the warehouse and walk out onto a small parking lot.

Bill strides forth immediately, but Harry follows him a little more hesitantly, still not fully trusting the man despite knowing him better. Bill trusted him enough to show him one of his food resources, but Harry is still a little wary.

He stays tense as he follows Bill out of the parking lot.

It is early, which means the sun is not directly over Harry's head. The sun is hidden behind the tall buildings of the town, making it hard to locate. Without the sun, Harry cannot tell if Bill is leading North, West, South or East. He usually has a good sense of direction but this town has a lot of identical streets which only serves to confuse Harry's senses. He has no idea where they are right now, but he trusts Bill enough to believe the man is not leading him into a trap to kill him in order to steal his things. They haven't known each other long, but Harry's instincts are telling him he can trust the man.

They do encounter a few Clickers on the way. The blind Infected (or, as Harry used to think, 'the blind inferi') are meandering aimlessly around a large boulevard. There are only three of them, so Harry uses his bow to kill them. Bill doesn't do anything, content to watch and stand guard in case more enemies arrive.

Other than that, they don't come upon any other enemies on the way. It is clear that Bill is in his element as he seems to know the town by heart. He leads Harry through a complicated path meant to avoid all places with high percentages of Infected. They end up in a more suburdan area with cracked roads full of weeds and moss and houses that have managed to withstand the passage of time quite well.

Harry notices a wild cat lying on the roof of a rusted car, seemingly without a care in the world. Harry wishes he could be that relaxed.

"This place is pretty quiet," Harry remarks. "Is this where your partner lives?"

Bill points at a house with an attached garage. "That's where he lives. And don't be fooled by the silence of this place." He looks around suspiciously. "There are a lot of Clickers around here, 'specially in the garden of some of these abandoned houses. Frank and I do some annual Clicker cullings in Autumn to minimize the risks of having to deal with a Bloater, and I've seen first-hand how many Clickers hide around here."

"What's a Bloater?" asks Harry as they begin heading towards Frank's house.

"Well, you know there's several stages to the Cordyceps infection, right? Until a few years ago, everyone thought Clickers were the last stage. But it turns out that there us an other stage to the infection where a Clicker turns into a huge fat motherfucker covered in that damn fungi that protects it like armour. Bullets do nothin' against it and it can throw balls of spores that explode when they're thrown. That's what a Bloater is. They were discovered a few years ago and not earlier 'cause it takes years for an Infected to become a Bloater. Small mercies." Bill shakes his head, looking tired with the whole situation. Unlike Harry, he's been dealing with this for years.

Bill stops on the porch of the house and knocks on the door. He uses a specific rythm, and Harry realizes it must be some sort of code, though the meaning eludes him.

It does not take long for the door to be opened, revealing a man that's younger than Bill, with short brown hair, a nose that looks like it was broken at some point in the past and tanned skin from often being outside.

"What do you want?" asks the man, expression resigned as though he's expecting bad news.

Bill puts his hand on Harry's back and nudges him forward. "Frank, meet the town's newest resident."

"Couldn't you have asked me before deciding to bring in someone new?" asks Frank, annoyed. "You never think these things through." He looks at them both—Bill with his unrepentant expression and Harry who is uncomfortable being the centre of attention. Frank sighs. "Come on in."

Harry enters first and discovers that the inside of the house is much homier than expected. The Cordyceps infection broke out twenty years ago and usually abandoned houses are rotted and full of dust, holes and rats. Frank's house is dirty, but it is obvious it has been cared for and lived-in these past few years.

Frank brings them to the living room and gestures for them to sit on a saggy sofa. He sits in front of them, looking at Harry warily.

"Who's the kid?" he asks Bill.

"Harry," answers Bill. "Found him earlier this morning, being chased by an ass-load of Clickers. Saw he had some talent, so I thought he'd be useful and I took him in." Bill makes no mention whatsoever about the fact that Harry is a wizard. Harry thinks it's strange. His magic is his biggest selling point and the primary reason why Bill decided to allow him to stay in Lincoln.

Frank is Bill's partner, and from what Harry understands, they are both in charge of the town. Frank is angry due to the fact that he hasn't been consulted on the issue of whether Harry should be allowed to stay. By avoiding any mention of magic, Bill is not doing a very good job of convincing Frank to let Harry stay. In fact, he's acting like Frank's opinion doesn't matter, and Bill is doing his partner a favour by introducing Harry to him.

The two men seem incredibly different. While Bill wears military-type clothing with a bullet-proof vest, several weapons strapped to his person and no bright colours, Frank wears a pair of baggy jeans with a very noticeable Superman shirt that offers no camouflage whatsoever.

Still, they are supposed to be partners, so Harry can't understand why Bill doesn't mention that Harry's a wizard. It is, after all, his defining feature. But then, Harry notices the Bill's smug smile and his expression as he looks at Frank, as though he knows something the man does not. And Harry realizes at that moment that Bill purposely kept Harry's skill a secret by only alluding to some vague 'talent' Harry has and giving no further details. Bill probably wants to goad Frank into asking about Harry's talent just so Bill can reveal it in a suitably dramatic manner. Either that, or Bill wants Harry to be the one to reveal his status as a wizard.

One thing Harry is sure of is that Bill _will_ reveal Harry's magical capacities to Frank at some point. If he intended to keep it a secret, he would have asked Harry to stay silent on the matter before they met up with Frank.

Frank scoffs. "A lot of people who went through this town 'had some talent', but we never let any of them stay. What makes this one so different?"

When Bill's self-satisfied smile widens, Harry realizes his first prediction was right: Bill didn't mention Harry's magic because he was waiting for the right moment to reveal it in a suitably dramatic manner.

"Harry's special," says Bill. "His skills could help a lot around town, and—"

"I can do magic," says Harry bluntly, tired of Bill's procrastination.

Incredulous, Frank laughs. "Are you serious?" he asks Harry. He turns to Bill without waiting for an answer. "You've been conned, Bill. I can't believe you'd be so stupid. You're supposed to be the paranoid one. Did you get hit over the head? It would explain why you came here when you usually avoid my house like a coward. Though even if you did get a hit that knocked a few screws loose, even _you_ wouldn't believe the shit this kid says. There's no such thing as magic."

Bill glares. "Now wait a second. This kid is the real deal—"

"He's obviously lying," snaps Frank. "How'd he convince you to let him stay in our town? Did he do a card trick?"

Bill crosses his arms, lips pursed. "Harry," he says, "think you can show Frank what you can do?"

Harry nods. During his time in this world, one of the spells he's had to use the most was the Levitation Charm. Often his road was blocked by rubble that he had to levitate away. Additionally, whenever Harry was tired during his travels, he would walk with his backpack floating next to him so he didn't need to carry it.

It's strange, when one thinks about it. One would think that in a post-apocalyptic world, Harry's favourite spell would be _Alohomora_ , to enter locked buildings in order to look for supplies, or a spell to start a fire so that he can cook his meals. But that is not the case. Most doors are old enough for Harry to break them open by force, and many shops have the necessary things for starting fires. The levitation spell, however, doesn't have an easy muggle alternative, which is why Harry uses it much more often.

Harry has levitated objects as heavy as Frank before and as long as the man doesn't start flailing, the demonstration should work fine.

Harry directs his hand at Frank, with the palm facing the floor and all of his fingers pointing at the shot-haired man.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!"_ he says firmly, concentrating on the desired effect to be sure the spell works properly. It would not do to fail—that would only prove Frank right.

It works. Frank's feet leave the floor and he floats upwards. The man's eyes open wide and he flaps his arms, trying to keep his balance in the air. Harry raises his hand a bit higher, still keeping his palm parallel to the floor, and Frank is moved higher until his head bumps into the ceiling.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Frank yells, raising his hands to try and grip the ceiling. His face is white as he looks down at the floor. "I get it! You were telling the truth. Please let me down!"

Harry tilts his hand, and Frank's body mirrors the movement.

 _ **"I get it!"**_ yells Frank again, nearly hysterical. "You're the real deal! Please let me go!"

Bill has tensed up, looking at Harry with considerably less warmth than before. "That's enough, kiddo. Put him down gently, now." Despite how worried the man must be for his partner, his voice remains steady as he talks.

Harry looks at Frank, who is holding his head and has brought his knees up to his chest, clearly terrified of the lack of control over his own body.

"Don't call me a liar again." Harry's tone is firm. He doesn't apologize, because that would make him lose face. Frank probably has some sort of fear of heights Harry was not aware of.

Harry lowers his hand, and Frank floats downwards until he's back on the ground on unsteady feet.

Without realizing it, Harry rubs his forehead.

His scar is itching.

Frank sits down, still breathing a bit hard. "I..." He clears his throat. "I believe you." He looks at Bill. "Sorry for doubting your reason for accepting the kid. Having a magician on our side will definitively be useful."

Bill settles back down on the saggy couch reluctantly, keeping a wary eye on Harry. "I wouldn't invite just anyone to live here," is what Bill finally says. "Havin' help from someone who can use _magic_ is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Harry doesn't move or say anything, hoping he won't draw too much attention to himself. The stunt he pulled on Frank lowered the amount of trust Bill has in him. When it comes down to it, Bill probably cares more about Frank, who he's known longer, and would gladly throw Harry out of the town if he treats Frank badly.

Being thrown out of town wouldn't be _catastrophic_ , but now that Harry has the opportunity to settle down and live in a community (if three people can count as one), he's not keen on ruining his chances. That means he won't be using a levitation charm on Frank again anytime soon.

Frank is distrustful. "And what does the kid want in exchange? Magic isn't something you'd find just anywhere, so it wouldn't come cheap."

Harry frowns. "The kid's name is Harry," he says pointedly. "In exchange for my help around here, I'd like food, a place to stay and... human company. I haven't talked to anyone in a while. Changing that would be nice."

Frank leans forward. He no longer looks pale from his involuntary flight and his breathing is even. "Making things fly..." begins Frank, thoughtful, "... is that the only thing you can do?"

This is Harry's opportunity to regain Bill's trust and have Frank see him in a more positive light. If he wants to stay, he needs them to see him as a valuable and useful 'ressource'. So he begins what he hopes will be a good sales pitch.

"I can also repair things. Bill thought I could repair windows and I could do the same to broken pots so that you guys can have more of them to grow more food reserves for trade. I have a spell that cleans everything in depth. I could help make some places more hygienic and reduce risks of infection or disease. But I'm not that good at using the spell and it tends to really wear down stuff if I use it on one thing several times. So cleaning people or clothes with it wouldn't be a good idea, but for cleaning buildings once or twice it should be fine."

Harry doesn't mention his more destructive capacities, fearing it would give Frank a bad impression. Bill, who knows Harry can magically cause explosions, doesn't say anything about it either.

"Does your repairing magic work on rusted metal? Could it get one of the cars in this town in working order?" Frank seems strangely intent on hearing Harry's response.

Harry hesitates. "I don't think so. Sorry."

Frank's shoulders slump down. He seems dishearted. "It's fine."

Bill shrugs. "Even if the brat repaired a car, you'd still need a battery to get it going. There's only one workin' battery in this town—"

"And it's at the local high school, which has the highest concentration of Infected in town. You're always raving about that damn battery, but you'll never have the guts to go get it, Bill," says Frank, glaring at the other man.

Harry can sense the barely hidden animosity. Something happened between these two, and it has soured their relationship.

Bill scowls. "If you wanna stay alive, it's better not to go looking for a fight against the Infected. That'll just get you killed. You're always spouting shit 'bout wanting to leave this town for a better place to live but your dreams shouldn't make you forget your own sense of self-fucking-preservation."

There's a lot of tension in the room and Harry senses Bill and Frank are about to fight. He decides to change the mood by asking: "If I'm going to work around here, I think I'd need someone to show me around town and maybe point out the things I should use my magic to repair."

Bill breaks eye contact with Frank and turns to Harry. "Yeah. We have a specific work schedule 'round here. I'm mainly in charge of agriculture, our animals and herding the Clickers around town to post them wherever the town needs most protection from outsiders. Some people come to my town thinking it'll be easy pickings with only two people to protect it, but they don't realize just how many Infected we leave alive to serve as the town's protection." Bill snorts. "At least those fuckin' Clickers are useful." He nods towards Frank and continues, "Frank's in charge of importing and exporting. He makes deals with nearby communities and trades stuff. I already told ya that earlier, so I won't go into detail. He's also the one who searches buildings for useful things like clothes, weapons and buildings tools."

"You could help Bill gather hay," says Frank, looking thoughtful. "Every two days he goes to one of the gardens where we grow hay and cuts it. He carries it over to one of our workshops so it can dry. We use it for the animals during the winter. You could make the bags of grass float so it's easier to carry 'em."

Looking like he agrees completely, Bill nods firmly. "Fuck. That would be _great_. It always kills my goddamn back to carry all that around. You have no _idea_ how much food those frickin' goats need during the winter."

It's not exactly glorious work, but Harry believes it should be simple enough to do.

"It seems fine," Harry responds. "What else would I be doing?"

Bill scratches his head absent-mindedly. "I could bring you to a few places this afternoon so you can fix up some windows. It would make some buildings safer since the Infected wouldn't have access to them anymore. I know some of them have sturdy doors, so as soon as the windows are repaired I could use some of those buildings as extra safe houses. It'll give those shits less places to access and hide in."

Bill and Frank discuss a bit longer, with Harry piping in from time to time. It seems that Bill and Frank's weekly work schedules are completely different. At no point do they meet up, work together or have any sort of contact, and it feels like the schedules were arranged that way on purpose. Harry has realized by then that the two men are on bad terms and Bill would never have gone to meet Frank if Harry weren't there.

The polite facade Harry is being shown hides some unresolved issues they don't want to argue about in front of Harry, who is after all a stranger.

The two men talk together and Harry is easily added to the work schedule. He will be shadowing Bill for a few weeks, helping the man out, and once his trial period is over he'll have a personalized work schedule and will be considered a full member of the town. Harry agrees when they propose that, and the tentative plan is set.

Harry feels happy, knowing he's been accepted in Lincoln (even if he first has to go through a trial period). This place isn't Hogwarts, but after the amount of time he has spent homeless in this post-apocalyptic world, alone and hungry, he's just glad to have somewhere to settle down and that he has some sort of home until he finds a way back to his own world.

The next problem that comes up is deciding where Harry will be living.

"I can take him in," says Frank, gesturing around him at his house. "I've got enough room here, and I don't mind sharing. Some company is always nice."

For a second, an ugly expression crosses Bill's face. Harry can't be sure of what it is—Jealousy? Anger? It's certainly nothing good.

"You live right next to the high school, where there's the highest percentage of Infected hanging around!" spits out Bill. "You're already dumb enough to want to live here. That doesn't mean Harry needs to live somewhere that dangerous too! And besides, if he's going to be helping me with my daily work, then he'd need to live near my church, wouldn't he? I ain't gonna let him sleep there because I don't like to share my space, but some nearby building should be fine. If he lives with you, he'd have to cross half the town every day to meet up with me!"

"Don't exaggerate," Frank protests. "It's not half the town. It would take twenty minutes, tops."

Bill shakes his head. "You and me both know it's a dumb idea. Clickers are attracted to noise, and with the amount of them around here, they're more likely to notice two people in one house than if it's just you."

It's like a tug of war, with Harry as the rope in the middle. It's… extremely childish, especially considering Harry (and any sane person in general) wouldn't want to live in Frank's house if it's close to so many Infected. Furthermore, it annoys Harry greatly that they're fighting over the issue without even asking _him_ , the concerned party.

"I'm sorry, Frank, but I agree with Bill."

Frank looks disappointed, which Harry finds surprising. Did the man really expect him to agree to live so close to a large amount of Infected?

"So… I guess that's it, huh?" asks Bill, standing up.

Frank stands too. "Get him a change of clothes and some covers 'n pillows for a bed. There's all the necessary stuff in that building on Stratton Street, where we keep all the clean clothes. Then you can get him settled in."

"Yeah, thanks," says Bill. "We'll just…"

Frank nods. "Yeah, see you whenever…"

They keep staring in each other's eyes, waiting for the other to say something more. It doesn't happen.

Instead, Harry clears his throat meaningfully, which brings Bill back down to Earth. They both leave the house, with Harry waving one last time at Frank.

Harry is a bit curious to know what is going on with Bill and Frank, but he doesn't know Bill enough to feel comfortable asking something like that.

Bill leads Harry to a large building made out of red brick that's a few streets away. The ground floor used to be a sweets shop, which the upper floors were once flats. The building is relatively intact and doesn't have any broken doors, windows or walls that might let Infected in.

One of the flats on the second floor has been cleared out and instead there are bags of clothes there, shut tight to avoid any moths biting holes into them.

Bill finds an empty bag and allows Harry to look for some clothes his size while the man gets some blankets and a pillow.

They work efficiently and silently, mindful of the ever present threat of Infected. They might be in a secured building, that doesn't mean those creatures couldn't somehow find a way in. It's best to be overly cautious than dead.

Once they are done, they head up to the roof tops and Bill shows Harry a way to navigate from rooftop to rooftop. It's not a very effective mode of travelling because it doesn't work everywhere, but right there the buildings are about the same height and close together so it's easy to navigate with minimal risks.

Bill brings Harry to a two-story building with grey walls that look like they might have once been white. It's large, and looks modern with sleek design that has lost its lustre as the years have passed and decay has set in. The large house is within sight of the church where Bill lives.

"There ain't any Infected in that place," says Bill, pointing at the two-story building. "You can settle in there for now. It used to belong to a fairly well-off family, so there are lots of bedrooms. Pick one you like and settle down. Relax a little and do whatever you want. I'll come back at in about an hour so we can eat lunch, and then this afternoon we'll set off so you can start working to earn your keep. Got it?"

Harry looks at the house. It hardly looks inviting, but then again that's the case of most buildings in this world. Nobody cares about the upkeep of buildings anymore because survival is much more important. "Yeah, sure."

"Oh, and before I forget," says Bill. He gestures towards the left of the house. "The door is locked so you need to use the ladder on the side to get up to the balcony and in through a window you can slide up. There ain't any fucking keys for that place and I don't want to break the door down because then it wouldn't stop the Infected from barging in, so use the ladder to get into that house."

"I'll do that," Harry responds. "Thanks."

Bill nods. "Anytime. Just remember I'll be back in a bit so we can get some grub and get working. Don't fall asleep in there."

Once Harry is inside the house, he goes looking for the room he'll use to sleep in. There's a master bedroom, but he avoids it because it has bloodstains on the floor and bullet holes in the walls. The other two rooms belonged to girls – one is predominantly pink with a lot of dolls, and the other one looks like it belonged to a teenage girl, with several posters of teen idols from twenty years ago.

Harry chooses the room with the posters, and sets his things down there. He then opens the wardrobe, which looks like it was emptied in a hurry, and riffles through the clothes that were left. There's a black scarf in there which he wraps around his neck as protection in case a Clicker tries to take a bite out of him. He also takes a brown leather jacket which looks in relatively good shape and puts it on. Leather is tough, and should protect him from the bite of an Infected. The weather is a bit too warm to wear the jacket, but Harry knows it's best to be safe than vulnerable.

After that, Harry is at a loss when it comes to what to do. He has about an hour before Bill comes back, so what should he do until then? Since he hasn't looked at the ground floor yet, he decides to explore it.

The ground floor has a kitchen with a large amount of high-quality knives as well as several decorative plates hanging on the walls. There is also a living room with a TV full of cracks from falling down and several dead plants are on the floor with the shattered remains of their pots and a lot of dirt scattered everywhere. There's a bathroom with foul-smelling toilet water and a dining room with an over-turned table and broken chairs.

An idea forms in Harry's head. He knows what he could do with his free time.

He goes over to the dead plants, and tries casting _Reparo_. It takes several tries before it works, and Harry is disappointed to see that there are bits of ceramic that are missing – the pot has several holes in it. Harry is not good enough at Transfiguration to find a permanent solution, so instead he retrieves a glass and a metal pot from the kitchen and fills the latter with some of the dirt near the dead plants.

Once he is done, he leaves the metal pot and the glass on the floor, and hurries up to his room to get his backpack.

When his wand broke, he had needed to find alternate methods to use magic. Wandless magic only worked so well, and what he'd turned to instead was potion-making.

All non-magical plants could be used in potions, but there needed to be at least one magical ingredient in a potion for a magical reaction to happen, or else the potion would just be a mix of plants with little to no effect. And the only source of magic in this world was Harry, so… he'd taken to using his saliva or his blood and mixing them with plants that had positive effects like protection or healing.

One of the potions he uses the most often is a potion to make plants grow. He carries seeds around with him, and whenever he runs out of fruits or vegetables, he sows those seeds and uses the potion to make them grow.

In his backpack are several dried plants in plastic packages that he's spent his time on the road gathering for the express purpose of potion-making.

An agaric mushroom for fertility and growth, anise for purification to ensure the potion doesn't give any negative results, and a few beans for potency.

When it comes down to it, brewing potions is a bit like studying litterature. Every potion ingredient has a meaning behind it, just like a metaphor, and you have to understand what will happen if you mix the right metaphors together. Sometimes two positive ingredients can get a negative result, or sometimes it works the other way around. Harry has tried making potions several times in this world, and the potion he's about to do is the only one he ever managed to brew correctly. All the other potions were failures.

He spits in the glass and uses his pocket-knife to cut the mushroom into small parts. He then adds it in, and crushes the beans before putting them in too. He mixes that with his knife, using a Warming Charm to heat up the mixture. The potion abruptly turns milky-grey, and when Harry adds the anise, the colour changes to white.

In his backpack are tomato and pepper seeds. He brings out the packet of pepper seeds, takes off the clip holding it closed and sows a few seeds in the metal pot filled with dirt. A bottle of water is brought out next, and a pours some of its contents into the pot. All that is left to do afterwards is place the pot near the windows so it can get some light.

Within minutes, a bush bursting with bell-peppers has appeared.


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

The next few weeks are pleasant for Harry. He regularly helps Bill gather hay and leaves for drying so they can be used to feed Bill's goats during winter. Speaking of goats, Harry is introduced to Bill's animals once the man decides Harry is trustworthy. Bill has over twenty chickens and twelve goats. They are unbelievably demanding animals and Bill spends most of his time cleaning up after them, surveilling the goats as they graze in a paddock, harvesting unfertilized hen eggs and milking the goats.

During his time in Lincoln, Harry doesn't see Frank at all. He's too busy helping Bill clean the chicken coops, transport the hay and also keep Infected away from the animals' locations.

Harry learns a lot. He realizes how hard it is for only two people to be in charge of a town, growing and harvesting food, setting traps, dealing with outsiders, trading for necessities, culling or herding Infected... It's a lot of work and Harry has no idea how Bill managed his own chores before Harry came. There's just so _much_ to do.

It's just another ordinary day when things change. Harry is heading over to Bill's church for lunch after a long morning spent using his magic to repair and clean buildings Bill has pointed out the day before. Bill is slowly starting to trust him enough to let him work on his own without supervision and Harry is glad to be given more respect. After lunch, Bill is going to spend the afternoon teaching him about various facts pertaining this world, as per their agreement. One afternoon per week, Harry gets these classes. He has already learnt about the different states an Infected evolves into with time. Those states are Runner, Stalker, Clicker and Bloater. He has also learnt about how most cities are called Quarantine Zones, with large walls around them.

As Harry heads over to the church, only focused on the hunger he is currently experiencing after hours of hard work, he hears gunshots nearby and the growls of the Infected. Surprised, he turns in the direction of the sounds.

It can't be Bill because the man is in his church. Are the gunshots from Frank? Is he being attacked by Infected?

Forgetting everything about lunch, Harry hurries over to where the sound of gunshots comes from. He crosses the street, zigzagging between the rusted remains of abandoned cars and heads through a side-alley. As he runs, he realizes that the gunshots are coming from a building that used to be an automobile repair shop. The front of the building is wide open and too easily accessible. Bill has a lot fo traps there because there are many Infected around that area. Frank wouldn't wander over to that garage. He knows better. So why...?

And as Harry approaches, he notices a little girl in the repair shop, desperately trying to cut the rope of one of Bill's traps, which is holding an older man upside down, hanging from the rafters.

The girl and the tied-up man are not anyone Harry has heard of. Bill rarely permits anyone to enter or pass through his town, so the two people Harry is seeing right now are ether friends coming for an unexpected visit, or trespassers. It doesn't matter. Even if the pair has bad intentions, Harry cannot just leave them at the hands of the Infected.

Harry has his bow, but he doesn't have enough arrows to deal with all the Infected he can see converging on the couple of trapped travellers. He could use _Bombarda_ to kill a large amount of Infected, but the noise might attract unwanted attention.

Most of the Infected he can see running towards the man and the little girl are recent Infected, Stalkers and Runners, who still look relatively human. An explosion would only bring hordes of Clickers to Harry's location.

Harry knows how to deal with groups of Infected. A group of Clickers? Fine. A group of Runners? Fine.

But what he hates is when he faces a group that has both Clickers and more recent Infected like Stalkers and Runners, who still have their sight.

After all, a Clicker's weakness is its lack of sight. Anyone quiet enough can either get away from Clickers or kill them without much trouble, despite the superhuman strength a Clicker possesses. But when you have Clickers and more recent Infected together? That's the worst situation to be in, because the blindness of a Clicker doesn't help you if other Infected will alert it whenever they see prey coming close.

The Infected attempting to get to the repair shop are all recent Infected, and the last thing Harry wants to do is to bring Clickers running.

Instead, Harry decides to use a spell with less risks of collateral damage.

" _Wingar_ —" Harry is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. He flinches, surprised.

Months spent travelling alone prior to settling down in Lincoln has made him unused to sharp, loud sounds.

The gunshots are coming from the man caught in one of Bill's traps. The man is shooting at the approaching Infected while hanging upside down. The little girl with him is trying to cut the rope trapping him there.

Harry takes a deep breath, trying to focus. He cannot afford to let his concentration break. Then, he tries the spell again. _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

A nearby car rises up and is placed on top of a group of Infected, crushing them mercilessly. Since all the Infected are coming from the same direction, the car also serves as a block to delay the next zombies.

Harry levitates two other cars, one after the other, and places them around the first. They form a loose semi-circle around the entrance of the garage to make it less accessible. That way, instead of a large amount of Infected entering the garage at once, there's a trickle of them.

The little girl has managed to cut the rope and her partner has fallen down on the floor, no longer tied up. Harry brings out his bow, unwilling to use magic now that the two strangers aren't distracted and might notice.

Levitating those cars while the two strangers were too busy to notice was fine, but that doesn't mean that he is willing to flaunt his magical abilities now that he runs a higher risk of his magic being noticed. He still doesn't feel entirely comfortable with Bill and Frank being aware of his capacities, as he is used to hiding magic from muggles back in his own world. He doesn't want that little girl and that man to know about his magic, so for now he will use his bow and arrow to help.

"Over here!" he shouts, waving to try and gain the attention of the two strangers.

He knows as he shouts that the noise he makes is going to attract the nearby Infected, but he can't think of any other way to get the attention of the two people fast enough.

Sure enough, the two strangers see Harry. Unfortunately the shout also gets Harry noticed by several Infected, who stop trying to climb over the block of cars in front of the garage and run towards Harry.

The two strangers are hesitating, probably not sure if Harry is trustworthy. Annoyed, Harry shouts again. **_"Come on!"_**

He shoots an arrow at the closest Infected and it dies immediately. Nevertheless, more are coming and Harry doesn't feel like staying in place like a sitting duck much longer. Luckily, the girl and the man get out of the garage, crossing the street in a large detour to avoid the Infected near the cars, and head for Harry.

One of the Infected's hands whips out to catch the girl's coat, but the man shoots it in the face before it can bite her.

"This way!" Harry orders, pointing at the alley he came from earlier.

He starts running, and the two strangers follow him, with six Infected pursuing them.

A short plan forms in Harry's head. He needs to get rid of the Infected chasing him and the two strangers, and then he has to bring the pair to Bill. Bill is the one in charge, so he is the one who needs to decide what to do. Harry doesn't know if these two strangers are friends or enemies, but he figures the best thing he can do is to bring the situation to Bill's attention.

When the older man tries aiming his gun at one of the Infected, Harry gives a sharp shake of his head.

"Don't shoot!" he orders. "The noise will attract more of them. Just follow me!"

He runs over to a nearby three-story building with brick walls covered in creeping vines. The ground level is full of glass windows that Harry used his magic to repair a few days ago. It's one of the latest buildings that have been cleared of the Infected.

Harry sprints over to the front door and nearly rips it off in his haste to open it. The two strangers leap inside and Harry slams the door shut two seconds before the Infected crash into it.

Harry and his two unnamed companions are inside what was once a large supermarket. Now the shelves are mostly empty of foods and what has been left behind is rotten or useless.

Harry keeps a wary eye on the glass façade the Infected are throwing themselves at. One of the Infected slams particularly hard into the glass. A crack appears.

"What now?" barks the older man. "Did you just trap us in here?!" His upper lip is curled in anger.

"No," Harry snaps. He points at the back of the shop. "There's a staircase there. We need to get on the roof, where there's an escape route. The glass should hold long enough for us to get there." And to accompany those words, he starts jogging towards said staircase.

The two strangers hesitate, not fully trusting him. There comes the sound of another crack as an Infected throws itself at the glass. The noise cuts through the reluctance of the two strangers, and they follow after Harry.

They make it to the first floor before the roars of the Infected is heard, signalling that the building has been breached. Thankfully, the Infected don't immediately realize where their prey is, leading most of them to stay on the first floor while only one of them has the intelligence to head up the stairs.

Fortunately, by then Harry and his companions have managed to access the roof, having been fast enough to evade their pursuers entirely. On the roof is a short zip line made of rope, connecting the roof Harry is on to the balcony of a building across the street.

There is a plastic box set on the roof. Once Harry opens it, the contents are revealed to be several pulleys attached to crude, home-made belts.

"Put these on," Harry orders, handing a belt to each of the two strangers.

"I hope you're not expecting us to slide down that rope," says the girl, looking down at the street bellow warily. "Is it even safe?"

"I've used it several times," Harry responds, clipping his belt on. "When the Infected get up to the roof, they won't be able to follow us, and they don't have the intelligence to go downstairs and walk over to the building we're heading to."

"While I'm sure that's meant to sound reassuring," drawls the older man, arms crossed in disbelief, "I'd rather you go first. Just to be sure it ain't a trap." He also hasn't put his belt on, showing how much he distrusts Harry.

"Fair enough," says Harry. "I'll go first. You can follow me, or deal with the Infected that'll be coming up here any minute."

He wraps another of the belt's ropes around his waist and ties it to the belt. This is nowhere as safe as a professionally made one, but it's the best he can do.

He sets the pulley on the zip line, pulls at it a few times to be sure it'll hold, and lets himself drop off the side of the roof.

The zip line grows taut. Harry glides along it, crossing the street and landing somewhat roughly on the balcony the other end of the rope is tied to.

He turns around and sees that the two strangers haven't crossed yet. He waves at them somewhat erratically, knowing that shouting at them to get on with it would only attract Infected.

The little girl goes first, sliding across the rope with her face tensed up like she expects to fall. Her landing is not very graceful, but she manages to avoid tripping.

The older man comes just after her. For a second Harry thinks the zip-line won't hold—he set it up recently and it hasn't been tested by anyone other than him yet, and this older man is significantly heavier than Harry—but nothing bad happens. In fact, when the man lands, that's when the Infected finally arrive on the roof, growling at prey that is no longer there.

When the man turns around and sees the Infected searching fruitlessly for their prey, he laughs.

"At least that problem is taken care of." He gazes down at the ground floor of the building, where some Infected can be seen. His lips tighten. "Somewhat."

"Unless we make too much noise, they won't be smart enough to follow us here," says Harry. He looks at the man with streaks of silver in his hair, and then at the girl who seems to be in her mid-teens. "What were you doing here? This town is off-limits to trespassers."

The man turns to look at Harry. "I'm looking for Bill. Didn't know there was anyone else living in this town." He hesitates. "Is Bill…?"

Harry's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, he's alive. I didn't take this place from him, if that's what you're trying to say. He lets me live in town. I work for him. Are you friends of his?"

"You could say that," the man answers. "Bill owes me a favour and I'm coming to cash in on it."

Harry pauses, evaluating the man. "I'm Harry. Who're you?"

"The name's Joel," says the man. He points his thumb at the girl standing slightly behind him. "This is Ellie."

Harry sighs, wondering what to do. Bill never told him how to act in this kind of situation. Joel and Ellie are most likely telling the truth, but they could be lying. Maybe they've heard of Bill's monopoly over the town and want to challenge the status quo.

In the end, Harry knows he can't bring himself to just leave them because they might be lying about their intentions. So...

"I'll bring you to Bill," he declares.

The balcony door leading into the building can only be opened from the inside, but Harry thought of that when he installed the zip line. So the door has been left slightly open, with a brick holding it in place and a plastic shower curtain set in front to stop the rain from coming in.

Harry pulls the curtain aside and pushes the door open. Inside is a bedroom with a large bed covered in moth-eaten blankets. The walls are a faded gold and the years have caused flecks of paint to fall off of them and cover the floor in a dusting of yellow.

Harry leads Joel and Ellie out of the bedroom, as well as out of the flat it is part of. They head downstairs and leave the building through a back door. They end up in a narrow alley with overturned dumpsters and decades-old garbage spilled on the ground.

It takes ten minutes to get to the church Bill lives in. Were Harry alone, he could have made the trip in half the time. However, mindful of his two companions, he takes a slightly longer route because it is safer and there's a lower risk of encountering Infected.

When Bill's church finally comes into view, Harry speeds up, thankful to finally be there.

While Bill sleeps in a room on the ground floor, all of his valuables (weapons, maps, plans, etc.) are in the basement. That's where the man spends most of his time, so Harry decides to look there first.

On the side of the church, there's a door set diagonally against the ground, leading downwards. Harry opens it carefully and ushers in Joel and Ellie. He follows the inside and shuts the door gently after himself.

Harry was right; Bill is indeed in the basement, tinkering with some home-made bombs, the ones he typically uses for his traps. Well, the man _was_ tinkering. When Joel and Ellie came in, he stopped. Now he's looking at them warily, though Harry's presence seems to reassure him. Obviously, the fact that _Harry_ has brought the pair to the church makes Bill slightly less aggressive than if the strangers arrived unnanounced, by themselves.

"Joel," says Bill, setting down the can full of metal nails he was working on. "Whaddaya doing here?" The tone is confrontational. Obviously, they know each other and are not the best of friends. But on the other hand, Bill acts rude and blunt with Harry too. It's part of his personality, and what he just said might be his version of a friendly greeting. Bill is so abrasive that it's hard to tell when he's being polite (or his version of it, at least) and when he isn't.

"Got a job," Joel answers. He gestures at Ellie. "I have to bring her to the Fireflies. I need to call in that favour you owe me."

 _Fireflies?_ Harry wonders. From the way Joel talks about them, he is not referring to the insects.

Bill grimaces. "A favour? I repaid that last time I saw you!"

Joel just _looks_ at Bill, face serious and hard. A second passes, and then another, and another. Finally, the pressure affects Bill enough to make him relent.

"Okay, I get it. I'll help ya." He looks at Joel and Ellie. "Where's Tess? I thought you never did any jobs without her."

Joel crosses his arms, face bereft of any emotion. "She's busy."

Bill smirks, having noticed something Harry has not. "You don't seem very happy. Trouble in paradise?"

Ellie's face is mournful and that makes Harry realize that something must have happened to this woman he doesn't know, something Joel doesn't wish to talk about.

"Just drop it," Harry tells Bill. He turns to Joel, his gaze compassionate. "What's the favour you need from Bill?"

Joel's eyes flick over to Bill, who is in the middle of the room surrounded by self-made bombs and looking annoyed at the interruption of his work.

"I need a car."

Bill snorts. "Oh, is that all?" He walks over to Joel, steps slow and heavy. Purposeful. "You need a car? I'm not sure if you've realized, but the cars in my town have been rottin' for twenty fucking years. We don't have a working car, don't have a mechanic, and even if by some goddamn miracle a car is still in working order, it probably wouldn't have any battery left. So shit luck - I can't help you." Bill stops near a pile of magazines with two small handguns and a figurine of a cartoon character on top of it.

"I could try to repair a car with my... you know..." says Harry hesitantly, not wanting others to know about his magic. _Reparo_ doesn't work well against rust, but it might get a car in a usable state.

Bill looks annoyed, and it is only then that Harry realizes Bill was trying to get rid of Joel and Ellie by denying having any cars. Even if the man has a working car, he probably wouldn't give it over to the pair. He said that he doesn't have any cars available so Joel and Ellie would leave.

Joel looks at Harry with interest. "You a mechanic, kid?"

Harry grimaces, trying to find a way to answer without being forced to lie. "... Not exactly."

Before Joel can continue pressing Harry for answers, Bill interrupts, having seemingly realized that Harry isn't comfortable and that he should say something:

"By the way, Harry, you checked them for bites, right?"

Harry pales, realizing he completely forgot. One of Bill's rules is that if trespassers or visitors come to town, then whoever sees them first has to ensure they have not been bitten and haven't breathed in any Cordyceps spores. It is a security measure to avoid any nasty surprises.

... And Harry has completely forgotten to check the two visitors.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," he says, figuring it's best to admit it and be yelled at than to lie to cover his mistake and risk either Joel or Ellie turning into an Infected and attacking.

In a movement so fast it leaves Harry blinking, Bill picks up one of the handguns on the pile of magazines he's near, making the little cartoon figurine topple over, and points it in the direction of the two guests.

"Are ya infected?" he demands, taking a step back.

Joel raises his palms up in a pacifying gesture. "No, of course not, I would've told you if we were."

Harry is concerned by Ellie's expression. She looks worried, which isn't a good omen. Either it's just her being nervous because of Bill's gun, or she's hiding a bite somewhere. Harry moves backwards, putting more distance between himself and the two guests. If a fight breaks out, he wants to be ready.

"Do you think I was born yesterday? Prove it," Bill spits out. "Take your clothes off. Show me arms, legs, neck - all the spots where you could be hiding a bite. I won't help you until I'm sure you're healthy!"

Joel steps forward, opening his mouth to protest, but Bill isn't having any of it.

"Now!" the man roars.

Joel starts pulling his sleeves up to show his arms. "We're not infected," he says. "Bill, none of us are gonna turn."

He opens his collar to show his unmarred skin, and then pulls up the legs of his trousers. There is not bite to be seen.

"See?" says Joel. "I'm fine."

Bill doesn't listen. Still wary, he turns his gun to Ellie.

"The girl next," he orders, his tone a bit more mellow.

"Now, Bill, she ain't gonna become an Infected," says Joel, sounding a bit worried.

Bill hears the change in Joel's tone clearly, and his eyes narrow in suspicion. "I said: The girl _**next**_. Either she proves she hasn't got a bite, or I'll shoot her right now."

"Listen, she's _fine_ ," Joel insists.

Ellie still hasn't moved, frozen in place. Bill's eyes narrow dangerously, and his second hand comes up to grip his gun two-handedly. It's more of an intimidation gesture than anything else, as Bill has no trouble shooting with only one hand.

"Five seconds," says Bill.

Ellie takes a step back. That behaviour betrays her. It has now become obvious that she has been infected by the Cordyceps virus, which is why she hasn't exposed her limbs or neck for Bill to verify.

"Four," continues Bill.

Harry keeps an eye on Joel, in case the man does anything stupid. While Harry loathes the idea of killing an innocent girl, he knows that in this world it is best to kill anyone that has been bitten so that they don't become an Infected. Death is preferable compared to what the Cordyceps fungi turns people into.

Bill has told him several times that if someone is bitten, they are expected to either commit suicide, or someone else must kill them before they become an Infected. If not, then they'll turn into a zombie, which will only help the Cordyceps infection spread even more across the land.

Joel is obviously protective of Ellie. While she isn't his daughter, he still cares for her just as much. It's entirely possible that his love for her might overwhelm his common sense and that he'd try to keep her alive even though she's been infected. So Harry keeps an eye on the man, ready to stop him if he intervenes. It pains Harry to do so, but he knows that leaving Ellie to turn into an Infected would be worse than killing her outright.

"Thr—"

 _"She's immune!"_ shouts Joel.

That stops Bill in his tracks. He looks at Joel, his gun lowering unconsciously.

"What did you say?" the man breathes.

Harry just tenses up, knowing this is most likely a ploy to distract Bill so that Ellie can run away. He keeps his eyes on the girl, ready to act if she tries anything.

"The Fireflies asked me to take her to one of their facilities so they can use her to make a vaccine. She's immune to Cordyceps, Bill. She was bitten three weeks ago and still hasn't turned."

Bill purses his lips. "Nobody's immune to that fuckin' infection," he insists.

Joel steps forward, looking earnest. "She's the first case anyone has ever heard about. She could be the key to getting rid of Cordyceps. For good. You know I wouldn't lie to you about something like this, Bill. If she wasn't immune, I wouldn't be protecting her like this." He looks over at Ellie. "Ellie, show him your arm. Show him how old the bite is."

The girl nods, and pulls up her sleeve. Just as expected, there is a bite there. However, it looks old. It has red-looking scars with a bit of pus coming out, but there is no fresh blood nor does it have any dried blood. It's an old wound.

Considering it usually takes two days at the longest for a bitten person to turn, Ellie's wound is old enough to support Joel's claims.

"You're not shitting me, are you? Please promise this isn't some cruel joke." Bill's voice is full of hope and his expression has lost most of its agressivity. "Joel, you better promise me this isn't a lie or I might _never_ forgive you." In fact, there is a suspicious shine to Bill's eyes. It looks like he's about to cry.

Harry is flabbergasted. It's the first time he's seen Bill like that. Usually, the man is gruff, strong and tough. He doesn't get very emotional.

"I swear," says Joel solemnly.

It takes a few seconds for Bill to get a hold of himself. The news that it might be possible to create a vaccine against Cordyceps has shocked him. Harry knows how deep the man's hatred of Infected runs. That is why Bill is so staggered at the thought of a vaccine. The man has always believed the infection to be unstoppable.

Finally, Bill straightens his spine, expression gruff once more.

"You said you need a car. It's to bring that brat to the Fireflies, right?"

Joel nods. "Walking isn't an option. It's too far away. We need some form of transportation."

"As I said before, we don't have any working cars in town. But we do have parts that work. You just have to bring the parts together to get something that runs."

Sudden worry grips Harry's heart. He's heard Bill rave about the only car battery in town, an battery from a military vehicle that crossed Lincoln not long ago. The vehicle was attacked by Infected, who killed everyone there. There's a very good reason why Bill never had the courage to retrieve that car battery. "Bill, the only car battery that works is at the high school," he remarks, tone urgent.

Bill doesn't seem to care. His eyes are bright at the idea of a vaccine and his mind is already sent on helping Joel and Ellie. "Yeah, that's where we'll go."

There is a large amount of Infected at the high school and it is, by far, the most dangerous place in Lincoln. Bill has always spoken of that car battery longingly, often mentioning his desire to drive a car again. However, he has never been brave enough (or foolish enough, depending on how you perceive it) to risk his life for a battery.

Harry wants to tell Bill it's too risky, but after all the stunts he pulled at Hogwarts, he knows it would be the height of hypocrisy if he berated Bill about not taking his safety seriously. Additionally, there's the fact that Bill is a stubborn man. If Harry tries to change Bill's mind, then no matter how logical the arguments are, Bill won't be swayed. He's a very contrary man and Harry has learnt through-out the weeks living in Lincoln that the best thing to do is distract the man.

"We should go see Frank first and ask him to come with us." And before Bill can get offended and rant about how strong and independent he is, Harry adds: "After all, if Ellie can help save the world thanks to her immunity, then we need to have as many people helping as possible to protect her so she doesn't die."

That cuts through any protests Bill might make.

Ellie's expression darkens and she takes a step forward, chin jutted out. "Hey asshole! I can protect myself just f—"

 _"Shut up,"_ Joel hisses, keeping his hand firmly on Ellie's mouth. "Don't start making enemies outta the ones who agreed to help us."

Ellie growls something in response, the words muffled by Joel's hand.

"You must have the patience of a saint," says Bill as he stares at Joel and Ellie. "If I was stuck babysitting that brat, she'd be dead within a day."

Ellie glares, pushing Joel's hand away. "If I was stuck with you," she snaps, "your fat ass would be—"

Joel slaps his hand back on Ellie's mouth with a defeated sigh. Harry refrains from laughing, guessing it would offend Ellie. The father-daughter dynamic between them is amusing and yet it also makes Harry feel oddly wistful. He wonders how his relationship with his parents would be, were they still alive.

Bill starts moving to the other side of the room, gesturing for the others to follow him. "If we're goin' out, then we'll need some weapons."

The basement of the church, or as Bill calls it, "my weapons cellar", is very wide and full of firearms, bullets and anything else needed to kill Infected. Bill spends a lot of time there, making deadly traps or reading magazines. It's the man's favourite place to be.

Bill stops near a table with a few weapons on it and picks up a firearm.

"Here," he says, tossing it to Joel. "Shotgun. Cleaned it last night, so it should be fine to use."

Harry looks at the gun curiously. He is still not used to seeing firearms. As a child, maybe he saw a handgun or two in movies, and there was his uncle's firearm, but such weapons had not been a common sight. The United States, both in Harry's world and in this magic-less world before Cordyceps appeared, allow firearms, while in Europe laws are much more strict, meaning only law enforcement and the military tend to have firearms. Ordinary citizens don't have guns, and before coming to this strange world devoid of magic, Harry had rarely seen firearms. While living in Lincoln, Harry has been given a handgun by Bill but he never used it. He isn't confident he can aim accurately with it and doesn't want to waste the few bullets available learning how to shot properly. Bullets don't come in an infinite supply, while the arrows he uses with his bow he can make himself, although they aren't as good as professionally-made arrows. They do the trick, and if he needs something more, he uses his magic. Guns never seemed to be anything vital or particularly needed.

"Can I get a gun?" asks Ellie, an excited expression on her face.

Joel crosses his arms. "Hell no."

Displeasure evident, Ellie stomps on the ground. "Oh _come on!_ Joel, I need something to protect myself with!"

Joel shakes his head, unfazed by her pleas. "I'm not giving you a firearm. End of story."

Ellie looks a step away from throwing a tantrum. Harry feels a little sorry for her, and entertains the thought of lending her his bow and arrows. Unfortunately, that would only leave him with his magic as means of protection, and he doesn't trust these people enough to reveal his magical abilities. He was already uncomfortable telling Bill and Frank—he doesn't want more people to know unless he has no choice.

So he says nothing, and waits for them to finish arming and preparing themselves.

Bill walks a bit further and stops in front of another table. This table doesn't have numerous weapons on it. Instead there's a metal can with nails and blades poking through it. Next to it are several more nails, lying in a small pile.

"This is a new invention of mine," he announces. "It's a nail bomb." He picks up a handful of nails and pours them into the can. He closes it and hands it over to Joel. "They're easy to make. You just need to…" He carefully explains how to make the bomb, giving a few tips on how to use it for maximum impact. Harry listens with half an ear, not really interested in knowing how to make a bomb when he can use spells like _Bombarda_ instead.

Once Joel seems to have a sufficiently good grasp on how to create a nail bomb, Bill brings everyone out of the room and up a set of stairs. The group emerges in the main room of the church—the nave. It is a place full of overturned pews where the faithful once sat and there is a chapel at the end of the room. Light is pouring into the room through the coloured glass of the windows. It feels peaceful and the thick walls give an impression of security.

"Never took you for the religious type," Joel comments, looking around curiously.

Bill snorts. "That's 'cause I'm not. I don't spend my time praying for someone else to solve my problems for me. I just use this place 'cause it's convenient."

Bill walks across the length of the nave and opens up a square window made of orange-yellow glass that's in the wall behind the altar. He swings his legs over the wall and through the window and drops down on a ledge sticking out of the outside wall. Joel and Ellie follow him out and Harry is the last to exit the church. He takes great care to shut the window after himself. The ledge he stands on is narrow, but the entire group manages to stand on it without problem.

"See that?" asks Bill, pointing at a building in the distance. It is grey and has a round face as well as the words 'Lincoln High School' inscribed on it. "That's where the car battery is."

"Which we'll go to after we get Frank to join us," adds Harry, knowing that if he does not say anything, Bill will never go see the man. Bill always tends to be unwilling to see Frank for some reason Harry has yet to understand. Harry only ever saw Frank once and that way the day he met Bill. The following weeks have been spent with Bill and Harry hasn't seen Frank at all.

"Yeah, after we get Frank," agrees Bill, not entirely happy. "Let's go."

He kneels down and jumps off the ledge. It's a short drop down to the grassy graveyard of the church. Harry and the two others follow Bill down.

The graveyard is full of overgrown weeds and surrounded by stone walls. The church is behind Harry and a few feet in front of him is a metal gate leading out of the graveyard. On Harry's left is a dead end full of graves. On the right Harry can see a big, grassy clearing with fewer graves, some broken lampposts and a large pile of something Harry doesn't immediately recognize.

It's only when they walk closer to it that Harry realizes it's a pile of corpses.

"That's nasty," whispers Ellie, staring at the pile.

Joel holds his arm up, trying to hide the gory sight. "Don't look at that."

Bill ignores them, looking around warily. "Past this bit, the rest isn't a part of town I ever go see. The place is completely wild, and I don't patrol it. We'll be seeing some Clickers soon."

Despite observing the place carefully, Harry cannot see anything threatening. There are no Infected right here. While the pile of corpses is unsettling, the clearing is pretty empty. There are some graves covered in moss, and some overgrown, half-dead grass. Otherwise, there is not much to see. It's hard to imagine there might be Clickers nearby.

Bill walks closer to the pile and everyone follows. As Harry approaches, he notices that the corpses are nearly all Clickers, recognizable due to the fact that the Cordyceps has formed in hard fungous protusions. To the left is a metal gate, the metal looking cared-for and devoid of rust. Bill opens it carefully and gestures for the others to go through.

There are stone stairs leading downwards to another part of the cemetery. Harry goes down first, walking slowly and carefully, while the others follow. As he reaches the end of the stairs, he realizes this other level of the graveyard must have been destined for richer people. There are two large monumental gravestones there. Obelisks, they are called. On top of each are Christian crosses.

Absentmindedly, Harry wonders if the people buried there died before Cordyceps arrived to this world. Did they even suspect they managed to die before their world would go through an apocalyptic event?

Harry turns left and walks on, passing the two gravestones. At the end of the large rectangle-shaped section of the graveyard, there is another set of stairs, leading to yet another part of the cemetery.

The whole place is covered in plants of all kinds. It really feels like nature has taken over here and the place is almost peaceful. But Harry knows better than to be fooled by appearances. He brings out his bow and gets one arrow ready, prepared for enemies.

Slowly, taking care to make the least noise possible, Harry climbs the set of stairs.

At the top of the stairs, there is a stone wall right in front of him, with a metal gate opened wide to allow passage into the next section of the graveyard. Harry notices a Clicker ambling about a few feet away in that next section, and tenses up.

"Be as quiet as possible!" he whispers to the others. "There's at least one Clicker over there. Let's try to sneak past it."

Ellie nods, while Joel takes out a shiv, jaw clenched. Bill is palming the gun at his side, looking wary and ready for a fight.

Harry mentally reviews the contents of his backpack. It has a knife or two, but that's all. Mostly it's full of herbs and things he uses for his experimental potions, as well as some small food reserves. He probably should have left his backpack at the church so he wouldn't have too much to carry, but he's spent so much time lugging this backpack around before coming to Lincoln that even now that he's settled in Bill's town, he always brings his backpack with him, even to do his daily chores.

"Now," says Bill, going in through the gate first.

Harry is a step behind, right next to the man. Joel and Ellie are at the rear of the group.

As Bill enters that section fo the cemetery, he keeps a wary on the Clicker up ahead. He's so focused on it tat he misses the Clicker hiding behind the stonewall, standing right next to the metal gate.

He's too close to it. The second Clicker hears his breathing and _screeches._ It dives forward and takes a bite straight out of Bill's arm, tearing through the protective layer of Bill's clothes.

"Oh fucking hell!" shouts Bill, shooting it in the face.

The other Clicker hears the gunshot and comes running, making an unholy racket and probably attracting even more Infected.

Harry's face is white as he stares at Bill's arm. The man has been **bitten**.


	4. Bill's Town - 4

 

 

.

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

It's too late for stealth now. The numerous Clickers Harry knows must be nearby are aware of their presence.

Joel points his shotgun at the second Clicker and shoots. Unlike some of the guns Harry has seen Bill use against Infected in the past, the shotgun does so much damage to the Clicker that it dies on the spot, most of its head having blown off.

"We have to run before more Infected get here," says Bill, stubbornly ignoring his sluggishly bleeding arm.

"But your arm—" says Harry, worry and dread in his tone.

"Just fucking run!" Bill whispers harshly, looking like it takes great effort for him not to shout and attract even more Clickers.

They all take off, entering the next section of the graveyard where the Clicker that bit Bill was. It has a large monument in the centre shaped like a cube and taller than Harry is. It is some sort of cenotaph with several names on it. Bill ignores it, running past it while the three others follow.

Past the large monument, there are stone stairs to the left leading up to a dead end, and to the right there is an open metal gate leading to the next part of the cemetery. Bill heads for the gate and slows down once he reaches it. Slowly, he peeks out of the passage-way and looks at the next section of the cemetery, using the stone wall as a cover in case something nasty pops out. Harry places himself behind Bill while Joel and Ellie stay a few steps behind, crouched low and making the least noise possible.

The next section of the cemetery also has large stone cubes with names on them, some grass and a tree or two as decoration. There are three Clickers there, which makes Bill hiss unhappily. All of the Clickers are screeching excitedly and waving their arms around, moving aimlessly. Obviously they heard the gunshots and know there is prey nearby, but their blindness stops them from finding the gate leading to their prey.

Bill tears out one of the loose stones from the crumbling wall and throws it at one of the monuments in the next part of the cemetery. The stone was thrown hard enough to break in two on impact, and the Clickers go running over to the sound, hungry for human flesh. A fourth Clicker is revealed, as it was hiding behind a bush.

Once all the Clickers are near where Bill threw his stone, Bill takes one of his own nail bombs and chucks it at the Clickers. It lands in the middle of the group of Infected, who paw at the ground for prey that isn't there. Their motions make the nail bomb move a little too much, and its volatile contents blow up in the faces of the four Clickers, who all die immediately.

Everyone waits a little to be sure no more Clickers are coming, but after a few seconds Bill deems it safe enough to walk down the stone stairs leading to the section of the graveyard where he threw his nail bomb.

"Bill…" Joel begins, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to help us out—"

Bill laughs bitterly. "Oh, so now that my arm's fucked up and I'm pretty much dead, you feel sorry? Don't. I'd rather die knowing I helped the people who are going to create a vaccine. At least my life wasn't meaningless."

"But if these 'Fireflies' can find a way to get rid of Cordyceps, then can't they cure you too?" asks Harry hopefully. The weeks spent with Bill have taught him much about the man and he has learnt that beneath the gruff exterior is a genuinely caring person. The idea that Bill might die is not one Harry wants to think about. "Can't they do something?"

Bill shakes his head, glaring at Harry. "Don't you know anything, kid? It can take years for them to find a vaccine, even with the immune brat in their hands. By the time they've got something to work with, I'll be long dead. It takes only a day or two for the Infection to reach the brain, and I'll shoot myself well before that happens."

Harry clenches his fists, biting his lip so hard he feels blood. "But…"

"I'm already _dead_ ," says Bill. "This is it, Harry. I'm gonna take you all to Frank and then we'll get that stupid battery. I'll help Joel and his brat, and then I'll die happy knowing that thanks to _my_ sorry ass, you two," he says, pointing at Joel and Ellie, "are one step closer to making the cure a real thing."

There is an awkward silence. Harry wants to protest, unhappy that someone as stubborn as Bill would resign himself to his fate so easily. Joel seems sad and doesn't know what to say, while Ellie tries to be a bit respectful of the man who has literally given his life for her and will die soon.

"Let's go," says Bill, walking off.

Nobody protests, and they all follow him.

They exit the cemetery and end up in a zone full of houses with very large gardens. Once upon a time, it must have been a place where the richer families of Lincoln lived. There are mostly Clickers there and not any of the more recent kind of Infected such as Stalkers or Runners, since this is a part of town that no one visits and thus there are only older Infected present.

They cross the area easily and manage to avoid the Clickers by sneaking around them silently. Joel does kill two Clickers though, using his shiv to slit their throats. Apparently he noticed that they had guns and ammunition strapped to them. The guns aren't in very good condition due to having been exposed to the outside weather for years, but the ammunition was kept wrapped up and stored in pockets, so it's usable. Joel takes what he needs and once he is done the group moves on.

Bill makes a large detour to avoid getting too close to the entrance of the high school. Frank lives near the back of the school, so as long as Bill avoids taking Harry, Joel and Ellie through the most dangerous zones, everything is fine.

It takes them twenty-five minutes to get to Frank's house. Harry knows they can get there faster, but ever since he was bitten Bill has been even more cautious and unwilling to take risks, which is why it takes them so long.

They arrive at the street where Frank's house is, but there are several Infected hanging around. Unfortunately there are several kinds of Infected, the blind ones and the more recent ones, which means sneaking past them won't be as easy as it was when there were only Clickers around.

Bill stares at the Infected and looks around, listening for hidden Infected. "There might be more of them," he whispers. "If there are, we'd be too outnumbered to win. We need to find another way to Frank's house."

Harry hesitates. "I could use my... capacities to help," he proposes. He still doesn't like the idea of too many people knowing about his magic, but he's willing to reveal it to Joel and Ellie if there is no other choice. Ellie represents a chance for humanity to get back on its feet, and using his magic to help her and Joel acquire a car seems more important than preserving a Statute of Secrecy no one but him cares about in this world.

It's clearly visible to Bill that Harry is still not entirely sure he wants to reveal his magic to more people because the man shakes his head gently, ruffling Harry's head affectionally. "Naw, kid, I got this. You bring out the big guns for emergencies only, got it? I know you don't like showing it off to others."

"What are you talking about?" asks Ellie bluntly.

"Nothing important," answers Harry.

Ellie does not seem happy with the answer. "But—"

"Shut up and follow me," snaps Bill, heading towards one of the abandonned houses on the street. "We're taking a little detour to avoid those Infected. Now _move_."

The door of the abandoned house is locked shut, but one of the windows is sufficiently broken to allow the group of four to enter. They arrive in a small entrance hallway with some shoes placed near on the floor near the walls and old coats hanging on the back of the front door.

"Let's check the house to make sure it's empty," announces Bill, "and then we'll go out the back door. Everyone stay together and keep your guard up."

They explore the ground floor first and find it empty of anyone other than themselves. Bill gets a bit impatient when Joel stops in the kitchen to take some of the scissors, knives and for some reason also takes a small packet of _sugar_. He places it all in his backpack and stares unrepentantly at Bill when the man tells him to hurry up.

The first floor is similarly empty, though there is a moment of silence when the group comes upon the long dead bodies of a mother and a toddler in one of the bedrooms. Joel and Harry are the most affected, while Ellie says, "Poor baby." Bill doesn't seem to care much, more preoccupied with staring at his arm and picking at the bite wound.

Afterwards, they head back down and walk out through a backdoor, emerging in a small garden with upright planks of wood serving as a fence. There's an outdoor table with a few chairs around it, and on the grass there's a plastic children's slide that comes up to Harry's chest. The distant sounds of Infected are barely audible and the garden seems relatively safe. Harry allows himself to relax a little.

"So here's what we're gonna do," begins Bill. "All the houses on this street are lined up and the same goes for the gardens. All we have to do is climb the fences and go from one garden to the other until we reach Frank's. Any questions?"

Ellie raises her hand.

"None? Perfect, let's go."

Harry gives Ellie a small pat on the shoulder, feeling sorry for the way Bill blatanly ignored her. In the meanwhile, Joel and Bill both lift the metal table and bring it over to the fence. Unfortunately the fence seems to have held up quite well despite the years and doesn't have any planks that fell down and created a convenient gap for the group to pass through. That means they have to climb over the fence, and they'll be using the table to do that, as the plastic slide is not meant to hold the weight of an adult and the years must have fragilized it to the point that it will probably break under the slightest strain.

Bill goes over the fence first, and it is as the man takes the lead that Harry realizes Bill must be going first not only to show them the way but also to be the first one to come in contact with any Infected they might stumble upon. Since Bill has been bitten, he probably thinks it's logical for him to go first and protect the three others, and Harry's heart squeezes painfully, knowing that the man doesn't have long to live.

Harry follows Bill and as he climbs over the fence, he promises himself that he will make Bill's last hours as happy as possible. He will be obedient and helpful, and be more vigilant than usual to ensure no one else suffers the same fate as Bill.

There are no incidents on the way to Frank's house. The group of four go from garden to garden, sometimes climbing over the fences and sometimes squeezing through holes and places where the fences broke. Once they reach Frank's garden, they enter his house through glass doors leading to the dining room. The place is rather dark and badly lit, and everyone seems happy that they made it without encountering any more trouble.

"Guys," begins Bill, "let's find Frank, and then we'll go look for that battery. Frank should be at home, so—"

Ellie gasps, hand on her mouth, and everyone turns to see what she's looking at. Harry sees Bill go completely still as everyone registers the scene.

It's Frank. He's hanging from the ceiling, rope wrapped around his broken neck.

"He's dead," says Harry in total disbelief. How can this be? He remembers seeing the man weeks ago and everything was fine, then.

"You know him?" asks Joel, his tone much more casual than it should be.

Harry wants to tell the man to be a bit more respectful and avoid speaking like seeing the body of someone who committed suicide is unimportant. However, considering Joel must have seen his fair share of gory scenes in this post-apocalyptic world, the man is probably just desensitized to violence.

"That's Frank," says Bill. His expression is drawn and tired. "He's the one who was supposed to help us. He was... my partner."

Ellie looks up at the body displayed for all to see, wearing a colourful shirt and stained jeans. "Poor dude. Sucks to be him, I guess."

Harry's eyes widen in shock at her dismissive attitude. He cannot understand how people in this world can just shrug dead bodies off so easily.

Bill's face hardens. "Shut up," he snaps. "Just _shut up_."

Raising her hands in mock surrender, Ellie rolls her eyes. "Right, shutting up now."

Lips tightened, Bill makes a sharp gesture towards the rest of the house. " _Go away_. Can you do that? Five minutes without your fuckin' whining should do it."

Ellie looks about to protest, unhappy to follow orders like many teenagers tend to be, so Harry walks over to her and tugs on her sleeve, bringing her gently out of the room. As soon as they are out of the room, Harry lets go of her. The girl looks thoughtful, head turned towards the room where Joel and Bill are.

"He really cares about this Frank guy, doesn't he?" she says slowly.

For such a young girl, she can be very perceptive, thinks Harry. Still, she should be a bit more respectful considering Frank is dead.

"They've been living in the same town for years without anyone else, so they must have been close," Harry answers. "I only came here a few weeks ago, so I only met Frank once, but he seemed like a nice guy. I think they were close, once, but something bad happened between them. Bill almost never goes to see Frank except if it's for something important, so if you and Joel hadn't come, it might have been months before Bill went to see Frank again."

Ellie nods and turns her gaze to her surroundings. She starts walking further into the house and Harry follows her as a precaution in case an Infected managed to come inside the house somehow.

"The body looked fresh," she says as she opens a drawer and peers inside curiously. "He probably died recently."

Harry's mind associates those words with Bill, and images of Bill either killing himself or turning fill his mind. He swallows, a drop of perspiration rolling down the side of his face. How can Ellie, a girl that looks to be somewhere between twelve and fifteen years old, behave like that when faced with a dead person? How many corpses did she see to make her so dismissive towards Frank's dead body?

"Must have," mutters Harry, trying to avoid thinking about the fact that soon Bill will die and with Frank having committed suicide, Harry will be the only one alive in town. He'll be alone again, just as he was before coming to Lincoln.

Ellie continues exploring the rest of the house and Harry follows her. He intends to keep Ellie away from Bill long enough for the man to grieve properly without unwanted interruptions. Harry knows the relationship between Bill and Frank wasn't the best, but he is also aware of the fact that Bill still cared about Frank even though he rarely let it show.

The problem is that it's hard to give Bill proper privacy, considering many of the different rooms of the ground level don't have doors. Instead they have open doorways that do nothing to mask the conversation between Joel and Bill. Harry tries to avoid eavesdropping but it's a bit difficult.

"Come on," says Ellie pulling Harry over to a door near the kitchen.

On the other side of the door they find a garage, and when they close the door after them Harry feels relieved because Bill and Joel's discussion is muted enough for him to not feel awkward. There's a truck in the garage, looking in rather good shape and with minimal rust, considering the Cordyceps infection ended most of civilisation twenty years ago and left no mechanics to take care of the truck. What interests Harry, though, is the fact that the hood of the automobile is up, exposing its engine.

"It looks like Frank was trying to fix this car," says Harry.

Ellie strides forward and opens the door of the truck. She climbs into the car and one hand on the wheel. Luckily, it seems there are keys already set in the car, so she turns them and tries to get the car to start. Surprisingly, the car reacts and makes actual noise. It is a small rumble, but it's enough to prove the truck seems to be in working order. Somewhat.

The sound has attracted Bill and Joel, who open the garage door to see what's happening.

"Think we found ourselves a working car," declares Ellie.

Bill walks over to the front of the car, his hard expression letting a bit of surprise and annoyance shine through. "That's the battery meant to be at that god-forsaken high school," he growls, his frown deepening.

"Frank must have gotten it," says Harry, his voice a bit solemn as he mentions the dead man.

Bill does not seem to care about being respectful of the dead. "That dick took it right under my nose..." mutters the man, pushing the hood of the car closed.

He walks over to Ellie and pulls her out.

"Move your ass," he says as he gets her out of the car. He sits down on the driver's seat instead and tries to start to car. It makes a little noise, but that dies down a second or two later. "We can get it working," says Bill. "Cells are fine, but the battery's drained. If we push the car to get it started, the alternator will do the rest."

"So the car _does_ work?" asks Ellie.

Bill glares at her. "Did ya listen to a word I just said? _Yes_. It will. You'll be able to get to your damn Fireflies, so stop pestering me."

Bill looks at the steering wheel and then he looks at Harry. He sighs, rubbing his left temple.

"Harry," he says, sounding rather tired.

Harry looks up at Bill.

"Frank had bites on his body. Joel and I saw them. The Infected must have gotten him while he was getting that battery," says Bill, eyes set firmly on Harry. "So he killed himself to avoid turning. In a short while, after I've helped get this car started, I'm gonna kill myself too."

Harry tenses, looking at Joel and Ellie out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't know them all that much, and honestly if Bill is giving his last words right now then Harry would rather it not be in front of strangers.

"I know you won't let yourself turn," says Harry. "You can't stand the Infected, and you're always telling me you'd rather... you'd rather _die_ than be one of them." His voice wavers when he mentions Bill's death. Harry already lost Cedric in the graveyard, and now Bill was bitten in another graveyard and doesn't have much time left to live.

Bill nods. "You can't stay alone in this town after I'm dead, Harry. Isolation isn't good for a kid like you. You need social interaction, friends, people to talk to. I know I wasn't the best person to give you that, but I don't want you to end up alone when I die." He takes a deep breath, sneaks a quick glance at Joel, and exhales. "I talked to Joel. They're going to be travelling a lot to get to a Firefly facility where scientists will take in the brat to try and make a vaccine. There'll be a shit ton of Infected, hunters and all kinds of dangers on the way." Bill steels himself. "I want you to go with them."

Harry frowns. "But... I can't do that!" he protests. "What about your town? Someone has to take care of the goats and the hens! And what about all the food we're growing? I can't just let everything you built go to waste. The animals will die without someone to take care of them."

Ellie looks at Harry and Bill and gives a nervous grin. "Um, I'll just leave you guys to your chat—" she says, moving as if to leave the room, but Bill holds her back.

"Stay," he orders. "This concerns you too, so don't fucking move."

Ellie crosses her arms, annoyed. "Yeah, whatever."

"The fact of the matter is, Harry," continues Bill, arms crossed, "the girl has to stay alive until she gets to the Fireflies. She can save the world. I think you should follow Joel and protect her. It's more important than keeping my goats and my crops alive. You can use those special abilities of yours for a better cause than helping me 'round town like you've done these past weeks."

"Special abilities?" repeats Joel curiously.

Harry ignores him and says to Bill, "I'll do it. I'll help keep Ellie safe."

And for the first time in a while, Bill smiles. He leans forward and ruffles Harry's hair. "Thanks, kid. Nice to know you'll indulge a dying man's last wish."

Harry feels warmed by the gesture. The knowledge that the man won't be alive for much longer makes the little time Harry has left with him all the much sweeter.

"I know it means a lot to you, this vaccine," says Harry.

Bill nods, his hand returning to his side. He looks happy, lighter. It seems that being so close to death has brought down some of the barriers Bill places between himself and the world. He feels a bit more carefree, as though he's trying to make his last moments more meaningful. "Creating a vaccine or _hell_ , even a cure, is a dream I've had for years, kid. I never thought it'd happen. I'm counting on you to do **everything** you can to ensure Ellie gets to the Fireflies so they can make a vaccine."

"I'll make that dream come true," Harry declares, face serious. "I won't let anything or anyone stop me from getting her to the Fireflies. I'll make Cordyceps a thing of the past."

Bill sighs, a very small smile on his face. "That would be the day, boy. No Cordyceps, no more Infected... that's my dream. I'd pay any price to make that a reality."

There's a moment of silence as they both imagine it.

Until...

"Okay, enough with the chick flick moment," Bill grunts. He turns to Joel. "Joel, I have to explain a few things about the car to you first. You need to know how to drain gas from other cars to use for the truck, and a few other things in case it breaks down on the road. While I do that, you two brats—" he says, pointing at both Ellie and Harry, "—can check Frank's house for supplies you might wanna take with you. Frank doesn't need them anymore, and I'm gonna bite it in a few hours, so you might as well take whatever you want."

Ellie sighs and rolls her eyes. "Whatever you say."

Harry walks out of the garage and Ellie follows a few steps behind. Bill and Joel are left alone to discuss the maintenance for the car.

"Come on," says Harry as he closes the door of the garage, "let's see if there's anything we could use."

They start opening drawers and cupboards in the kitchen, searching for anything they might want to bring along on their journey.

"So..." Ellie begins. She pauses, searching for the right words. "You're gonna join the team, then?"

Harry nods. "Yeah. One more person to help would increase your chances of surviving, right? Protecting you is the least I can do if your immunity could help create a vaccine."

Ellie winces. She is less confident about it than Harry. "I wouldn't be that sure if I were you. Most of the time Joel and I barely find enough food to feed ourselves so I don't know if we could have enough for three. And we'll probably go through many zones where there are clouds of Cordyceps spores in the air. Joel has his gasmask and I'm immune to that shit, but what about you?"

Harry thinks of the growth potions he can make and of the vegetable seeds in his backpack. He thinks about the Bubblehead Charm, which he hasn't ever tried wandlessly but believes he could be capable of if he trains hard enough. He thinks of his magic, wonderful ability that it is, and smiles.

"Don't worry. Trust me, it won't be a problem."

Ellie and Harry explore the house, picking up whatever useful things they can find. There's a well-stocked medical kit, some surprisingly well-preserved clothes and a few water bottles. Harry takes the medical kit and an over-sized tee-shirt. Ellie puts two of the water bottles in her bag, but doesn't bother taking anything else.

It's only when they get to Frank's bedroom that they find something interesting. The bedroom itself looks gloomy, with dirty walls, wooden boards nailed to the windows, a mouldy mattress on the floor and some other pieces of furniture that look about to give out. There is a desk with on it a few bottles of alcohol as well as a small red candle and a piece of paper.

Harry picks up the piece of paper, and as he looks at the words written on it, his eyes widen. It seems to be some sort of suicide note, a few last words Frank wrote before hanging himself.

"What is it?" asks Ellie.

"It's..." Harry cannot find the right way to say it without choking up. Despite having seen Quirrel and Cedric die, and seeing Frank's corpse hanging from the ceiling, this suicide note manages to affect him so much more, especially because it doesn't contain the last words Harry knows Bill would have wanted to read. The note isn't... very kind.

When Harry doesn't answer, Ellie leans in and looks at the piece of paper. Together, they read Frank's last words.

_Bill,_

_I don't think you'll ever find this note because you were always too afraid to come near this part of town. But if you do find this , then I want you to know that I hated you. I hated how set in your ways you are, how you never wanted to leave this town to join a Quarantine Zone. This shitty life was never enough for me and I wanted to change that. I got that battery you were always going on about, but I guess you were right not to go to that high school. I couldn't avoid getting bitten. I'm going to die, but it'll be on my own terms. At least I don't have to put up with you anymore. Treat that magic kid of yours well - I know you were never good with kids, but try to make an effort. Keep that boy around and be nice to him. It's not every day you meet someone that special._

_Good luck._

_Frank_

"That's harsh," says Ellie softly. "Do you think we should show this to Bill? It might be nicer if we don't give it to him."

It isn't an easy decision to make. On one hand, Harry wants to protect Bill and make sure the man's last hours will be reasonably peaceful. That means he shouldn't give the note to Bill, because it will only upset him. But on the other hand, what right does Harry have to keep this from Bill? Between giving it to Bill and letting the man live his last moments as happily as possible, the choice is hard to make. Harry was always angry whenever Dumbledore kept information from him, so he knows Bill would feel the same if he knew Harry's keeping Frank's suicide note from him. But Harry doesn't want to see the sadness and disappointment on Bill's face when the man will read that note.

In the end, Harry decides that being honest is the best way to go about things.

"I think he'd want to read it," says Harry.

Ellie is uneasy at the thought, but she nods.

They head back to the garage and find waiting near the back of the truck while Bill is standing near the front of the car, staring at his raised arm and the hard leather the Clicker bit through.

Harry walks over to Bill and gives the man a small nudge with his elbow. "I found something."

Bill looks over at Harry, not very interested. "What is it?"

Harry hesitates half a second before he hands over the note. Bill holds it up and reads it in silence.

Harry looks at Bill's face, already regretting his decision as he sees the hurt and pain appear. Finally, Bill stops reading and sniffs in contempt.

"Fucker would have left town with my stuff. He stole some shit from me and has it at the back of the truck." Bill shakes his head in disgust. "If that's how he repays my help, then good riddance."

It might be enough to fool some people, but Harry can see that Bill is affected and trying to put up a front of strength. Harry doesn't say anything. Sometimes silence is better than words of comfort.

Bill clears his throat and murmurs, "I think you should tell Joel and his brat about what you can do. We're gonna get the car started soon and you guys will be leaving town, so it's best to tell them now than to give them big fucking surprise in the middle of battle when you blow up a bunch of Infected. And if I'm here to back you up, they'll believe you faster."

Over near the back of the car, Joel and Ellie are chatting, unaware that they are being talked about. Harry hums thoughtfully. "We could show them here. Once we open the garage to get the car out on the road, there'll be Infected nearby, and after that I don't know when's the next calm moment I can tell them."

"Joel! Immune brat!" snaps Bill. The concerned pair look up in surprise. "Come over here. Me and Harry have got something to tell you."

"What is it?" asks Joel, walking over to Bill and Harry. Ellie follows him, a few steps behind.

"Harry here," says Bill, placing his uninjured arm around Harry and giving a small comforting squeeze, "has something he needs to tell you." Bill stops there, waiting for Harry to pick up where the man left off.

As for Harry, he isn't quite sure how to do it. In all of his years at Hogwarts, he'd only ever been taught ways to hide his magic from Muggles. He'd been told numerous times that it was illegal to perform magic in front of Muggles or reveal the existence of the Wizarding world, and it was a bit hard to shake off all that he has been taught in order to tell Joel and Ellie what he is.

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. How is he meant to explain something like this? Admitting and proving that magic is real will essentially shatter Joel and Ellie's world views. How is he going to tell them without receiving any negative reactions? Telling Bill and Frank about his magic was much easier.

Finally, he shuts his mouth, defeated. He has no idea how to do this tactfully without simply blurting out 'I'm a wizard'.

Bill realizes Harry is having trouble and decides to take over:

"He figured it would be easier to tell you now with me to back him up on this. Since it's important information, it's best you know it sooner rather than later." Bill waits patiently for Harry to finally start talking, but Harry's reluctant expression makes Bill start talking again: "Well, since Harry's too chickenshit to say it, how about a demonstration?" He turns to Harry. "Can you do that trick you used to convince Frank?"

Levitation is relatively easy, but Harry isn't eager at the thought of using that spell on Joel or Ellie. "Can I use you for the demonstration?"

Bill looks startled. "... Sure? Just be careful - I don't want to be slammed into the ceiling."

Harry can practically feel Joel and Ellie's interest sharpen when they hear that. They are curious and expectant. Harry pauses, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the thought of putting on a show, before he gestures in Bill's direction with a wave of his hand.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!"_  
  
As expected, Bill's feet leave the floor and he floats upwards.

Joel, who has seemed relatively stoic to Harry from what he'd seen, is completely surprised and his mouth is half-opened in bewilderment, his eyebrows rising. Ellie's eyes are wide, and Harry can hear her murmuring "Awesome..." as she stares.

"I'm a wizard," says Harry nervously. Then, injecting more firmness in his tone, he continues, "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. And if we're going to be working together, you should know this. I want to use my powers to help you guys, because if Ellie's immunity can be used to make a vaccine, then it's definitely worth it."

Too late does he think: What it Joel lied about Ellie being immune? What if the bite was from a fellow human, which would explain why she didn't turn, and Joel was using that as an excuse to make Bill give him a car? It seems a bit far-fetched, but it causes Harry to suddenly worry whether he has revealed his capacities for a good reason or not. Joel and Ellie seem like good people, but then again so had Professor Moody before it turned out that he was a Death Eater in disguise...

Harry can feel a headache coming on. He really doesn't like second-guessing everything, so he tries to put the thought out of his head, deciding that the pair is most likely trustworthy.

"It's true," says Bill, somehow managing to look serious and menacing despite hanging in the air in a somewhat ridiculous fashion. "Harry here can do some really crazy shit. And you know me, Joel - I ain't the kind to believe in this kinda fantasy stuff, but I promise Harry's the real deal. He's legit, and he can prove it."

Joel, instead of being awed or showing any disbelief, simply sighs and rubs his temples. "God, first it's a kid that's immune to Cordyceps, and then it's a magician. Any more surprises and my poor heart might give out." He smiles, chuckling to himself.

Ellie hits his side with her fist. "You aren't allowed to die on me, old man. You gotta take me to the Fireflies first."

Joel rolls his eyes and ruffles the girl's hair. She squawks in surprise and indignation.

Harry raises an eyebrow. "You're taking this... well..."

Joel shakes his head. "Don't take it the wrong way kid. Later, I'll ask you to prove it several times, 'cause you won't get me to believe in that kind of stuff easily. The only reason why I'm not checking for invisible wires is that I trust Bill enough to know he's probably not joking about this. But if someone can be immune to Cordyceps, then I guess all kinds of miracles are possible." He pauses, lips twisting. "Though if you're fucking with me, even though I have no idea how you got Bill to fly, then I'll kick your ass."

"... Huh," says Harry. He expected a different reaction.

"Okay, that's enough," says Bill. His floating body has begun to lean to the side and he is keeping his arms spread wide to catch himself if he falls. "Let me down now. Any longer and my breakfast is gonna show up again."

Harry laughs, still feeling slightly startled that there isn't more to his reveal as a wizard. He half expected to spend several minutes levitating things and maybe even conjuring some water. As a last resort he'd have made one of his growth potions and use it on some of the vegetable seeds in his backpack.

Unlike Joel, Ellie is much more enthusiastic.

She practically skips over to Harry and demands, "Make me fly too!" Childish glee lights up her face and from the way Joel looks on in surprise, it's probably not every day she allows herself to act her age.

Startled, Harry smiles. "Sure, just wait a second."

He concentrates and Bill slowly floats down, landing neatly on his feet. Then he turns to Ellie, and hesitates.

She frowns. "Are you gonna tell me it was all a joke and invisible wires were holding Bill up? 'Cause that would suck."

Harry shakes his head and points his hand at her. _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

He remembers his first year at Hogwarts, with Hermione correcting Ron's pronunciation of the levitation spell and Ron being annoyed and calling her a know-it-all. It feels like a distant memory, far out of reach.

"This is awesome!" Ellie exclaims as she is levitated up in the air. She kicks the side of the pick-up truck to gain enough momentum to do a backflip and then tries flapping her arms to move around. She looks like she's swimming, though she isn't having much luck moving by waving her arms like that.

"Kid?" Joel calls out, raising his voice. He points at the truck. "We need you to drive the car while we push it."

"Just gimme a sec!" says Ellie as her body turns upside down. Her ponytail is brushing the floor and she has a wide grin on her face. "I can't believe this is real! I thought you were gonna say you were lying when I asked to fly," she tells Harry. "I once met someone who could do these really neat card tricks, but that's nothing compared to this!"

Her blood is rushing to her head, so Harry turns her around and her head goes back up. He releases the spell and she lands on her feet, knees buckling a bit.

Joel shakes his head, rolling his eyes. "Magic," he mutters, voice low. "What are they gonna come up with next? Clickers dancing the tango?" He moves over to the back of the truck and places his hands on the edge of the open cargo area.

Bill heads over to the entrance of the garage, getting ready to roll up the garage door. Ellie hops inside the car and places her hands on the steering wheel, a confident smile on her face. Harry joins Joel and gets ready to push.

"Let's go!" says Bill, opening the garage door.

Harry and Joel move lean forward and start pushing the car out on the driveway infested with weeds. Bill comes over to help them and with the three of them working together, they push hard enough to send the car rolling off the driveway and onto the street.

"Harry, you and Joel push the car," says Bill. "I'll follow you with my gun to kill anything that comes close."

Harry nods and everyone gets to work.

The pick-up truck is set on the road, ready to go. Bill is standing a few steps behind it, holding a shotgun which Joel and Harry are pushing the truck forward.

Harry feels vulnerable like this, standing out in the open. He can see that the road is on a hill and if the car is pushed far enough, it'll start rolling downhill and make it easier for him.

"C'mon, kid," says Joel as he leans forward and puts more strength into his arms, pushing with all he has.

Harry does the same, grunting with the effort as he pushes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see a few Infected in the front lawn of one of the houses nearby. The ones he can see look like recently infected ones, their bodies still relatively human. They are holding their heads and rocking back and forth, staring blankly at the ground.

"Bill!" Harry hisses, careful to keep his voice low. "Infected in front of us, house to the left!"

Bill looks over in the indicated direction and his eyes widen. "Shit, you're right. Guys, stop pushing the car and don't make any noise. I'm gonna go take care of this." The man heads over to the Infected, using bushes and the carcasses of old abandoned cars to hide.

As for Harry, he hurries over to Ellie. Since she is in the driver's seat, she did not hear Bill and Harry talking so she has to be informed to stay quiet until the Infected are dealt with.

"Ellie!" Harry whispers.

The girl turns her head and looks at Harry, brown eyes unsurprised. "Yeah," she whispers back, "I saw the Infected just now." She points at them and Harry notices that from this angle he can also see a Clicker hidden behind some bushes and overgrown weeds. Bill is approaching it from behind, a knife in hand to slit its throat.

Bill makes short work of the Infected. The lone Clicker is easy to take care of and as it is the biggest threat, once Bill has killed it then taking out the other ones is much less stressful. Clickers are insanely strong, which is why it's always best to kill them first.

After all of them are dead, Bill sweeps his gaze over the area and then gives Harry, Joel and Ellie a thumbs-up gesture. Harry returns to Joel's side and they both begin to push the car again.

"We're not going fast enough!" says Ellie.

"Obviously," answers Bill with a roll of his eyes as he walks back over to the car. He pockets his knife and takes out his firearm again. "If we push it a bit more, we'll make it to the edge of the hill. Then we push it over and it'll roll down fast enough to start running."

Harry braces himself, holding on to the back of the car even thighter, and pushes with all of his strength. Joel is doing most of the work as he is older, larger and more muscled, but Harry gives as much as he has to ensure the car advances.

They're nearly at the edge of the hill when the hoarse screaming of several Infected becomes audible. Both Joel and Harry let go of the car to grab their weapons. Bill shoots at a woman ahead of the pack and there's a shower of gore. Another Infected is nearly upon Harry and he still hasn't had the time to take out an arrow. Huffing in annoyance, he points his hand at it and shouts:

_"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

Thankfully it works, despite his nerves, and the Infected is sent flying back into one of its companions.

Joel is shooting at the Infected closes to them, so Harry takes the opportunity to retrieve and arrow and shoot it at one of the Infected, a man with tanned skin, a bit of a pot-belly and a face that has been extensively clawed at. He gets it in the upper torso and it goes down twitching.

A Clicker shows up, running straight at Joel and Harry. It's flailing its arms around in a frenzy, ready to grab hold of the first prey it reaches and bite. Bill shoots at its face, but he misses.

"Shit!" exclaims Joel. He points his own shotgun straight at the Clicker's face when it's barely six feet away and _shoots_. Fungal growths go flying.

There are only two Infected left. Both are Runners, the weakest and first stage of the infection. Harry shoots an arrow at one but the other gets too close to Joel and grabs his arm. Joel grunts and pushes the Runner backwards. It comes running back but Joel sends it to the ground with a round kick. Then, while it's still dazed, a brings his shoe down and cracks the head against the road. He brings his shoe down again and this time the head breaks open. Red spreads everywhere.

"Let's go!" says Bill.

The three of them push the care together and it moves forward with enough force that it goes over the edge of the hill and starts rolling down too fast for them to follow it. As it goes down, Harry hears the distinctive sound of the engine starting. He grins broadly.

It _worked_.

"Fuck!" Bill exclaims. "The Infected must've heard that. Hurry!" He starts running down the hill, towards the car.

A burst of nervousness gets Harry's heart beating faster and he runs after the man, with Joel at his heels. There are quite a few cracks in the road and he nearly trips, but he manages to make it down.

The pick-up truck is stopped near a drive-way leading up to a large mansion, and there are two Infected running over to the car.

"Get in the car!" shouts Joel as he aims at one of the Infected.

"Got it!" answers Harry just as Joel shoots.

Harry jumps into the cargo area in the back and turns around to look back at Joel and Bill. More Infected seem to have shown up, so he uses his levitation spell twice to send some of the Infected flying back. Joel uses the opportunity to run over to the car and join Harry while Bill covers for him, shooting an Infected right in the forehead.

"Drive!" shouts Bill just as he jumps into the cargo area where Harry and Joel are.

Several Infected are heading towards the car, and Harry notices at least one Clicker and three Runners. Luckily, Ellie starts driving away before the Infected come too close.

Bill sighs in relief and the car picks up speed, relaxing from his tense position.

Harry sits down, body still full of adrenaline. "We made it." He's glad it didn't turn out worse.

"We were lucky," says Bill, staring at the passing scenery.

Nothing more is said after that. Everyone is content to sit in silence, enjoying the fresh air while Ellie drives towards the edge of Lincoln.

Ten minutes pass before the silence is broken:

"Stop! Stop here!" shouts Bill, banging on the side of the car.

Harry can't see if Ellie says anything in response, but the car slows down and stops.

They're on the road leading out of Lincoln, near some of the last buildings before reaching the forest the surrounds part of the town. The sun is still pretty high up in the sky, casting sunlight on the empty road and warming Harry up.

"I'm gonna get off here," Bill tells Harry, looking at him straight in the eyes. "I'm gonna go release the goats and the chickens before..." He doesn't say any more.

"... Before you kill yourself," Harry finishes for the man, tone serious.

Bill nods and claps a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's been interesting, knowing you," he declares. "Meeting a real magician before I die... It's a great way to finish my life. I got to see something most people don't even know exists."

Harry moves forward and wraps his arms around Bill.

The man stiffens.

Harry knows Bill isn't a big fan of physical affection, but considering the man doesn't have long to live, personal space loses a bit of its meaning for Harry in favour of saying properly goodbye to the one who took him in.

"I'll protect Ellie," says Harry, voice muffled against Bill's shirt, "and a vaccine will be made. _No one_ will have to die like you do anymore. Cordyceps will be a thing of the past."

Finally, Bill moves his arms and returns the hug, hesitation gone. "Make me proud, brat," he says fondly. He squeezes one last time before releasing Harry.

"Thanks, Bill," says Joel, "for everything."

Bill nods. "Don't lose that siphon hose I gave you, Joel," he reminds the man. "Use it to get gas from other cars. Without it, this truck won't be useful long."

Joel holds up a coil of black hose. "I won't lose it, don't worry."

Satisfied, Bill jumps out of the pick-up truck and heads over to the nearest building. Before he's out of sight, Joel shouts:

"Bill!"

The man turns around, one eyebrow raised.

"For what it's worth," continues Joel, "I'll make sure to get your name engraved on a monument somewhere with the names of _all_ the people that helped make the vaccine a reality. I'll make sure _everyone_ knows what you did for us." His voice is thick with emotion.

Bill stares at Joel, expression blank. Then, a small smile appears. It's soft, _genuine_. The rare kind of smile that isn't sarcastic or mocking.

"I appreciate it," says Bill.

And then he turns and slowly walks away.

 

 

.

 

 

**END ARC ONE - BILL'S TOWN**

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The four next chapters of the Pittsburgh Arc will be posted tomorrow.


	5. Pittsburgh - 1

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unflatering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

**ARC TWO - PITTSBURGH**

 

 

**.**

 

 

Harry is half-asleep, leaning against an equally drowsy Ellie, when he hears Joel swear:

"Fuck, this ain't good."

Jolted out of his nap, Harry sits up, looking out of the car window blearily. At first glance there are no Infected or anything dangerous, so he relaxes a bit.

"What's wrong?" he asks while Ellie yawns next to him.

"The road's blocked," says Joel between gritted teeth.

Harry takes a second look out the window, this time to take in the surroundings properly instead of looking out to try and detect Infected. It seems they are in a city, as he can see very tall buildings around him. The car is on an elevated roadway held up by thick columns, which gives him a good view on the ground-level streets. The road itself is full of grass and weeds coming out of the cracks in the concrete, with abandoned cars and various objects such as traffic cones, plastic bags and other such things strewn about. Through the windscreen, Harry can see that the road separates in two, each of the two roads going in separate directions. The one to the left heads straight, while the other one curves to the right.

Joel has stopped the car so that it is facing the left road and the problem is immediately apparent. While until now there has always been a few rotting cars left on the roads here and there, there are many more on the left road, completely clogging it. It's impossible to pass, and it's clear Joel wanted to go that way. In the distance, Harry can see several buildings of different heights, most of them with quite a few broken windows. Even further away, Harry can see a large through arch bridge, though the distance makes it seem small.

"We could go back the way we came from and make a detour," proposes Ellie.

Joel turns to look through the backscreen at the direction they've come from. He winces. "Making a detour would take too damn long." He pauses, trying to think of an alternative. After a second of thought, he comes to a realization and turns to Harry. "Kid, do you think you could float those cars out of the way with that flying trick you used on Bill and Ellie?"

Harry looks at the obstructed road, lips pursed. "Cars are pretty heavy, but I can lift them. It would just take me a while to do them all. And I don't know where I'd put them. There are so many that if I try lifting them, there won't be any other place to put them back down. And I can't throw them off the road because they'll fall down on the ground and make a huge racket..."

"... Which will make the Infected come running to us," finishes Joel with a grimace. "Got it. Let's just take the other road, see where it leads us."

He puts his hands back on the steering wheel and drives to the right, on the road that heads further into the city.

As they drive, Harry looks at the tall buildings on either side of the road. Most of those he can see are made of brick, either red or grey. At least one third of the windows are broken and all kinds of creeping plants are growing on the walls. The pavement on either side of the road Joel is driving on is cracked. What used to be neat and orderly trees growing along the road have grown large and untamed, branching out everywhere. Sometimes there's even a dead tree lying on the road and Joel has to carefully avoid it.

The tree isn't the only obstacle their car faces. There are several other automobiles lying abandoned on the road, though thankfully there aren't enough to prevent the pick-up truck from passing through.

"Where are we?" asks Harry, gaze on the passing scenery.

"Pittsburgh," answers Joel just as the car rolls over a hole in the road, jostling everyone inside.

"And what's our destina—" Harry stops talking as Joel slams to an abrupt stop.

The man was distracted by something moving on the street.

Everyone looks through the windscreen. In front of them, about thirty feet away, is a tall man with dark skin. He's limping, looking as dirty and unkempt as all the people Harry has met in this world, with torn and unwashed clothes. He's clutching his abdomen and his face is twisted in pain. There are red stains on his clothes.

"Please!" the man shouts. "Please... I need help!" He grasps his stomach even harder, obviously wounded.

"Fuck," exclaims Ellie, eyes wide. "What happened to him?"

"We need to help him!" says Harry, keeping his eyes on the poor man as he moves to open the car door.

"Don't!" snaps Joel. "Put your seatbelts on. _Now_."

Amidst protests of "We can't leave him there!" and "But he's hurt!" from Harry and Ellie, Joel narrows his eyes and says:

"Trust me, that man ain't hurt."

And with those words, Joel's right foot comes down on the throttle. Within the span of a second, the car goes from immobile to mobile, bursting forwards at incredible speed.

The man on the street he lets go of his abdomen in surprise, revealing a distinct lack of any wound. He pulls out a gun, shooting at the pick-up truck while shouting expletives. Several armed men come out of hiding from behind rusting cars and shoot at the truck too.

Joel drives so fast that the black man doesn't have time to get out of the way. Joel runs him over, continuing straight ahead without stopping. A hole appears in the windscreen as a bullet passes through it, though thankfully no one gets hit.

Several bricks are thrown at the car and one breaks the window on the front passenger side, where no one is sitting. Joel swerves dangerously to avoid a hail of bullets and they arrive to a large crossroads, still going at full speed.

At the last minute, Harry turns and notices a large bus shooting down a side road, heading straight for them.

His eyes widen.

_"Bombarda Maxima!"_ he shouts, pouring every bit of his fear into it. The spell isn't one he gets to use much and thus he has close to no skill at casting it wandlessly, but...

... a miracle occurs, just like it did in Lincoln when he had to cast the same spell.

The bus _explodes_ in a shower of fire, sending several assailants running for cover.

Joel doesn't even flinch - he continues driving straight, not even slowing down. He is slaloming along the road, driving left and right unpredictably in order to make it harder for the shooters to aim.

"Ellie!" he shouts. "Grab my shotgun and give 'em hell! Harry, you blow them up like you did with that bus!"

"I can't do that!" protests Harry. "They'll die!"

"'Cause you think people didn't die when you blew that bus up with your mumbo-jumbo?!" shouts Joel, turning sharply to avoid a rusted car in the middle of the road. "Wake up! It's kill or be killed! So either you use you mystical shit to kill those bastards, or we _die!"_

"I..."

Joel turns, following the curve of the road, and a great wall appears, made of upright blanks of wood with barbed wire at the top. The road is blocked and if they don't do something soon, then in a few seconds they'll either have to stop or crash into the wall.

"Change of plans!" says Joel, grimacing. "Harry, think you can get rid of that wall?!"

The wall looks flimsy. Harry has three choices: He can levitate one of the car carcasses and send it flying into the wall to make the wall fall down, but that's a bit too obviously magical and Harry doesn't want the enemies to know of his abilities. He can try levitating the wall and sending it down, but the barbed wire would still be there and would puncture the wheels of the car. The last possibility is to blow up the wall, though he isn't good enough at casting that spell to be sure it'll work.

He decides the try the last one:

_"Bombarda!"_ he cries.

It's a weaker version of the spell and thus easier to cast wandlessly than _Bombarda Maxima_. Unfortunately, this time luck is not on his side, and nothing happens.

Ellie has finally managed to pull out the shotgun and is rolling down the window to shoot at the assailants.

_"Bombarda!"_ Harry tries again, focusing harder.

The wall is partially blown backwards, but not nearly enough for the pick-up truck to pass, and the barbed wire is still there.

It clearly isn't working. The wall is at a forty degree angle and pointing away from the car, so Harry casts a levitation spell and attempts to rip off the wire, pulling it in the opposite direction from the speeding truck. As he pulls it away, it stubbornly clings to the wall and brings the wall even further down until it's nearly lying on the floor, perfect for the car to drive over. Finally, he manages to partly rip off the barbed wire and pull it out of the way, just a few seconds before the car drives over the downed wall and continues at breakneck speeds.

Unfortunately, the rest of the road is full of piles of cars and the street is entirely clogged up. They can't pass. Joel turns so sharply that Harry feels one side of the car lift up in response, and they speed through a small alley. It's so small that one of the mirrors on the side of the truck is knocked off by one of the walls on the side of the alley.

Finally they emerge out on the other side. Unfortunately, the alley didn't lead them to another road. Instead they are in a courtyard wedged between some apartment buildings, full of old garbage bags overflowing from large metal containers. It's a cul-de-sac.

"Fuck, it's a dead end," exclaims Joel, looking around in hopes for a solution. There's no way out and the nearest windows leading inside the buildings are too high for them to reach.

Instead of a solution, there are the sounds of distant shouts as their attackers approach the alley, coming after them all.

They're trapped.

There is no exit and the broken windows of the buildings are too high to be reached, so Harry makes a quick decision.

_"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

One of the metal containers full of old garbage bags is lifted up and placed underneath a window. Joel understands the plan immediately and heads over to the container. He climbs on top of it and jumps up to reach the window, but he isn't tall enough.

Harry can hear the assailants coming closer. They are shouting orders and not being particularly subtle. Harry estimates that they'll have caught up in less than a minute.

Harry decides to abandon any façade of politeness and uses a new levitation spell to pull Joel up into the air rather roughly. To the man's credit, he doesn't cry out in surprise and thus give the enemy a direction to head for, though he does flail and appear supremely uncomfortable with the situation. Harry levitates Joel up to the window and the man climbs in.

By then, Ellie has already climbed up on the dumpster, so Harry also levitates her without asking for permission, bringing her up so she can join Joel.

Harry hears distant shouts of "Where are those fuckers?!" as he climbs on top of the garbage container. Unfortunately, he can't use the levitation spell on himself because he needs to stay still while using it on an object or else he loses control. So he looks up at Joel and Ellie and demands:

"Help me up!"

Harry isn't as tall as Joel, but there is still not much of a distance between him and the window overhead. So Joel leans out and reaches down with his arm. Harry holds onto the hand tightly and the man pulls him up with a grunt. Both their hands are sweaty and Harry holds on with all of his strength, unwilling to slip out of Joel's hold and fall. Finally, he grabs hold of the window sill and manages to get his leg up and over it, entering the building Joel and Ellie are in.

He lands inside. His heart is beating wildly and as he turns to look out the window, he notices an assailant has already made it into the courtyard where Joel left the pick-up truck.

"We can't let them access that car," whispers Joel as he crouches down to hide, keeping his eyes on the scene down below.

More enemies are entering the courtyard, advancing warily and pointing their guns at the car. They still believe Joel, Ellie and Harry are in the pick-up, and thus they are trying to slowly surround it before shooting.

Harry agrees with Joel's statement. Working cars are rare and it wouldn't be good if their enemy got their hands on one.

"Harry," says Joel, "do you think you could blow up the car like you blew up that bus? We'll escape while the hunters deal with that."

Harry frowns. "That'll kill them!" he hisses. "They aren't Infected, so we shouldn't _kill_ them!" He's outraged at the proposition. His morals wouldn't allow him to do that.

Ellie looks at him in disbelief. "What kind of rainbows-and-puppies place do you come from? We don't have a choice!"

"We always have a choice!" retorts Harry hotly, barely restraining himself from raising his tone. "Killing people will bring us down on the same level as the people attacking us. We'd be nothing more than murderers, like them!" He points down at the men in the courtyard, the ones willing to murder without a second thought. They are murderers. Murderers like Voldemort. Like Bellatrix. Like all those countless Death Eaters responsible for so much pain back in Harry's world.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" exclaims Joel angrily.

He fishes through his things and brings out three glass bottles filled with what seems to be alcohol. He brings out tape and long, thick stripes of cloth. He opens each bottle and stuffs the bits of cloth into them, leaving a bit poking out of the bottle. Then he uses the tape to keep the cloth in place and ensure a minimum of liquid will spill out of the bottle.

As Joel brings out some matches, the attackers down in the courtyard exclaim in surprise, realizing the car is empty.

"Search the place! They can't have gone far!" orders one of the men.

Joel lights the wicks of the bottles and throws each bottle down at the enemy, aiming for different clusters of men to try and hurt as many as he can. The bottles shatter as they impact the ground and fire spreads everywhere. Several people catch on fire and start screaming, while others who are unaffected point their weapons at the window where Joel and the two others are. They start shooting, but Joel is already moving away from sight.

"Come on!" he says, running away from the window.

They are in a bedroom full of mouldy clothes and furniture neglected by time. The door leading out of the room is locked, but Joel kicks it open and heads out. Ellie and Harry follow him out of the apartment they're in and down a flight of stairs, heading down to the ground level to leave the building and escape.

"Next time," says Joel as the group hurries down a flight of stairs, "don't freeze up like that. Boy, mercy is a nice thing to have, but you must have noticed it's not something we can afford in this sorta situation, you hear? I don't know what kind of stuff Bill taught you, but he obviously neglected to mention that letting people like that live will only cause trouble for you later on."

They slow down once they reach the last few steps and advance slowly, more wary in case there are enemies near the street outside. On the ground floor there's a run-down lobby with several square letterboxes set up on the wall with names and apartment numbers written on them.

"I don't particularly like the idea of murdering someone. It goes against my morals," states Harry, looking around the lobby before slowly advancing towards the door leading outside.

Joel sighs. "Kid, I can understand that. Really, I _get_ what you're getting at. But those men who shot at us? They're dangerous. They're what you can call hunters - a community of people who prey on fellow survivors. They kill people to steal their stuff—guns, ammo, medicine, food and things like that. I bet somewhere around this town there's a room full of dismembered bodies that our corpses could have been in if we hadn't made it out alive."

"How do you know all that?" asks Ellie.

They stop near the entrance and Joel doesn't go any further, taking the time to properly answer Ellie's question:

"I've been on both sides, Ellie. I've done... I've done some things I ain't proud about, and every day I try to make up for some of the pain I caused." The double doors leading outside are made entirely of glass, which makes it pretty easy for Joel to search the outside street for signs of enemies. "Harry," he murmurs, eyes still scanning the street, "I admire your morals, but you've gotta realize that we don't have much of a choice here. These people won't stop until we're dead, so if we spare them then we just cripple ourselves in the process. Don't think of it as cold-blooded murder—what we're doing is self-preservation." He pauses, taking a deep breath and then letting out in a gentle sigh. "We're going to go out in a few seconds and make our way over to the big bridge that leads out of Pittsburgh. We can't see it from here, but once we're outside it'll be visible in the horizon. On our way to it, we'll most likely have to fight people, and we'll have to _kill_ people. I won't force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, but can I at least trust you to have my back?"

Harry nods. "I won't kill anyone. I understand why it's bad to let them live, but I just... I just can't murder someone. It's wrong and goes against everything I stand for." He hesitates. "But I _will_ protect you and Ellie. I'll use my magic to help you guys, but I won't kill anyone."

Joel smiles sadly. "You're a good person. I just hope it won't come back to bite you in the ass."

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

The street outside is partially flooded. There was probably an underground subway or some sort of hollow space beneath the street at some point, because it seems that parts of the street have collapsed, causing a large depression that has filled up with rainwater over the years. Harry is unsure whether that water-filled depression is large enough to be considered a lake or should be called a pond instead. It seems quite large, bigger than a swimming pool, though the water is so green due to algae that Harry cannot guess how deep the body of water is.

Harry walks past a police car and a taxi and approaches the edge of the water. It's so murky and green that it's impossible to see through. Harry does not feel like getting too close, because he can still remember the cave he went to with Dumbledore, and the inferi hiding in the dark waters. He would not be surprised if Infected are in the waters he is looking at right now, ready to ambush anyone silly enough to come too close.

"Do you think there are any Infected hiding in that water?" he asks the two others.

Joel shakes his head. "Cordyceps is just like any other fungus. It needs oxygen to survive. That water might look like there's a crocodile in it waitin' for its next victim, but it's probably safer to be in the water than out here on the street."

Harry looks at the disquieting water dubiously. "I see."

"Hey guys?" Ellie calls out.

She is standing a few feet on the side, having stopped at a run-down bus station near the edge of the body of water. There's a poster set up there advertising a movie called _Savage Starlight_.

Harry and Joel join her in contemplating the poster.

"What is it?" asks Joel.

Ellie points at the poster. It depicts a woman and a man wearing futuristic clothing and holding guns, with a menacing face in the background, presumably the face of the antagonist. "Savage Starlight was adapted into a movie." She sounds disappointed. "I wish I could have seen it."

"Savage Starlight?" asks Harry, confused.

Ellie nods. "It's a comic series. I got one of them from Bill's place and read it yesterday in the car. It's really cool. I have no idea why _Bill_ of all people had that. I thought his tastes stopped at those gay porn mags I found at his place."

Harry reddens. "You shouldn't be looking at that sort of stuff!"

"You're such a prude." Grinning, Ellie takes off her backpack and starts searching through it. "I brought one of them with me. And I gotta say, some of those dudes are hung like you wouldn't believ—"

The sound of two people talking is heard.

Harry blanches and everyone hides behind the _Savage Starlight_ poster.

There are two hunters coming out of a building. They are too far away for Harry to understand what they're saying, but from the tone alone he can instantly guess that they are on the lookout for him, Joel and Ellie.

The building the hunters are coming out of opens directly out to the body of green, murky water. There is no street anymore. Luckily for the hunters, there is some sort of large, rectangular metal shipping container embedded into the building the hunters are coming out of. It is half-way submerged in the water and seems to have been purposely put there.

The two hunters are walking on top of the shipping container, talking in low voices and looking around suspiciously. They stop at the edge of the container, where there is a large gap with the dark water a feet or two down below. Across the two men, on the other side of the street, there is a large bus embedded into the side of a building with fancy architecture, some kind of hotel. The configuration of the shipping container on one side of the street and the bus on the other, both lined up, forms some sort of passage over the body of water taking up the street. The end of the shipping container and the end of the bus are separated by a distance that is just slightly too large for a person to hop over.

One of the two men picks up a long wooden plank that was lying on the top of the metal container and places it down in a way as to create a bridge between the container and the bus. The two men carefully cross the makeshift bridge one at a time, and Harry leans out from his hiding place a little further in order to better observe the scene, tightly gripping the side of the bus stop he's hiding behind.

Unfortunately, Harry leaned too far out and one of the hunters spots him.

The man shouts and brings out his gun, shooting at the bus stop. His companion joins him and aims gunfire at the spot, and Harry returns to hiding with Joel and Ellie.

"Idiot!" says Joel. He wrenches his shotgun from Ellie's hands, as she has been holding it since the moment she used it to shoot at people from the pick-up truck.

Joel peeks out from his hiding spot and, showing impressive aiming skills, manages to kill the two men in two quick shots.

"We need to move," declares Joel, coming out of his hiding spot from behind the advertisement for the Savage Starlight movie. He glares at Harry. "Thanks to your shitty hiding skills, someone probably heard me shootin' at those two. Reinforcements will be here any minute." He points at the horizon, visible beyond the bus the two hunters just died on. There is a bridge there, near the edge of the city, probably a forty or fifty minutes' walk away. "We gotta head over to that bridge and leave Pittsburgh as fast as we can, before we get our asses caught by them hunters. We'll cut through that hotel." He nods towards the hotel which's entrance the half-submerged bus is embedded into.

He enters the murky waters and starts wading through them, heading towards the bus. Harry follows the man, but Ellie stays put.

"I can't swim," she points out. "You gotta find a way to help me cross."

"I can levitate you over the water with my magic," proposes Harry. He looks over at Joel. "I could do the same for you, too."

Joel looks back at the water hesitantly, and then at Ellie. He sighs, making up his mind. "Fine. J-just be careful, okay? I ain't used to this sort of abnormal shit."

Harry doesn't flinch when he hears the word 'abnormal'. In his mind, he hears a faint echo of the word 'freakish', so often used by the Dursleys to describe him. He smiles, the expression not reaching his eyes, and nods. "Sure."

The first to be levitated is Joel. Harry makes the man float over the large body of water and onto the roof of the bus.

"I keep forgetting you can do that," mumbles Ellie under her breath, looking at Joel in fascination as he gingerly lands on the half-immersed bus.

One of the dead hunters is still on the roof, while the other fell down into the water when he was shot by Joel. Joel kicks the corpse off the bus and it sinks down into the water.

"Are you ready for your turn?" asks Harry, turning to her.

She straightens her spine and nods, smiling shyly. "Yeah."

He casts the spell and uses his hand as a conductor, guiding her floating form towards the bus where Joel is waiting. He hears her squeal "Awesome!" as she floats, and she giggles in childish delight.

Harry remembers how unaffected she was when she saw Frank's corpse and he remembers thinking of how many dead bodies she must have seen to turn her so dismissive towards death. And now, as he hears her giggles over something that for Harry is trivial since his first year at Hogwarts, he sees that the childish part of her hasn't disappeared entirely, forcing her to mature faster in this violent and deadly world. She is much more mature than she should be at her age, but it is nice to know that she can still acting like the young kid she is.

Once Ellie has landed safely next to Joel, Harry enters the murky waters and makes his way over to the bus, water splashing around him as he does so.

"Can't you make yourself fly?" asks Joel loudly from where he is standing.

"I could," responds Harry just as the water gets too deep and he is forced to swim instead of walk. He tries not to think of how dirty and unsanitary the water is. He's lucky he doesn't have an open wound which could get infected by the bacteria no doubt swimming in the green waters. "But it's difficult to move myself around with the spell if I'm not stationary. I haven't managed to get it right yet and if I try I'll probably crash into something."

He has swum close enough to the bus, but he cannot get on top of it because the water level is too low to give him easy access. Joel goes down on his knees and leans down, arm out and hand open towards Harry. Harry grasps the hand and Joel pulls him up, straining with the effort. Ellie manages to grab hold of Harry's shirt when he is high enough and pulls too, trying to help.

Finally, they get Harry up on the bus after a bit of a struggle.

"Man, you're _heavy!"_ exclaims Ellie. "You look so thin, but you weigh more than you look like."

"You calling me fat?" jokes Harry with a smile.

Ellie nods, grinning cheekily. "Exactly."

Joel is already walking towards the hotel the bus is embedded into, so Ellie turns and follows him. Harry looks down at the bus he's standing on and realizes that some sort of thick wire fence has been attached on the sides of the bus, probably as a defense against Infected. The bus is halfway into the large entrance of the hotel, but the water level of the flooded street is such that it's not possible to enter through the front entrance.

Harry can see a sign on the building with _The Hotel Grand_ written on it. The last few letters are nearly entirely covered by creeping plants. Joel and Ellie climb over the sign and enter the hotel through a window on the first floor. The window is nearly at the same height level as the roof of the bus, making it easy to access.

While trying to ignore the fresh bloodstains on the roof of the bus, Harry climbs over the sign with the hotel's name and enters the building, catching up to his two companions.

Obviously, the interior design of the hotel was once very impressive. However, time has made the place look as much like a dump as all other buildings.

The window Harry entered through leads to a short drop down on a mound of compact earth down on the ground floor. He is in a large lobby and can see in front of him the remains of what was once a grand French staircase, part of it smashed to bits. The lobby is flooded, with water coming up to their knees, and Harry can even hear a frog croaking from somewhere.

Ellie whistles. "Look at this place! It must have looked amazing before the outbreak."

"Haven't you ever seen somewhere like this before?" asks Harry as they explore the place. He has spent a long time at Hogwarts, so he is used to ostentatious decoration.

"Nope. The Quarantine Zone I lived in wasn't exactly a place with nice architecture."

The ground floor is in a very bad state, but they manage to find a bar with two knives and a few cloth handkerchiefs that they decide to take. Since the stairs are partly destroyed, the first floor is not accessible. Harry considers levitating the other two up to the first floor and is wondering how he'd get up there too when Joel announces that he has found a metal ladder. The thing is propped up against some scaffolding, as apparently the hotel was in the midst of renovations when the outbreak happened.

The rest of the stairs are in good enough condition to walk on, so the trio heads up to the first floor. They emerge in a waiting room for the lifts, and find that access to the upper floors is denied, as there is a large hole in the stairs that is too large for them to jump over. Thankfully, there is a window in the room leading out to a sort of rooftop type of area with rough gravel and large, cuboid-shaped ventilation shafts.

Unfortunately, the three of them can clearly hear the sound of voices coming from out there even though they cannot see anyone, and it is clear that hunters are nearby.

Joel crouches down, grasping the handle of one of his guns, but Harry shakes his head at the man.

"I've got a better idea," he whispers.

He walks over to the stairs leading upwards, the ones that aren't possible to access, and Joel's eyes light up in understanding.

"I'm going to make you float up there. Please don't make a sound," murmurs Harry.

The older man nods and approaches, while Ellie stays near the window, on the lookout for hunters. Harry levitates Joel up and over the hole in the stairs, and then he quietly calls for Ellie. She trots over obediently, and he uses his magic to make her float over to Joel.

Then only Harry is left. He cannot use the levitation spell on himself, which Joel and Ellie know. Ellie walks further up the stairs to give Joel some space while the man braces himself against the banister, one hand held out to catch Harry.

"Don't worry," says Joel when he sees the way Harry stares at the very large hole in the stairs. "Get enough momentum and you should be able to jump far enough for me to catch you. Just be careful of those wooden planks."

Harry nods, examining the hole. There are wooden planks sticking out of it and he knows there is a risk he might impale himself on them. He uses his levitation spell to pull most of the obstacles out of the way, and then takes several steps back, readying himself to jump.

"Ready?" mouths Joel.

Harry nods again, bends his legs, and runs straight at the stairs. He jumps and before he has the time to realize that he won't make the jump, Joel grasps Harry's hand in a vice-like grip and pulls him up. Harry puts one of his feet on one of the half-broken steps and it snaps in half, part of it falling down. Luckily, Joel's grip is steady and he manages to get Harry up the rest of the way. Harry stumbles over to Ellie, heart beating wildly.

Joel looks down at the first floor. The voices of the hunters are no longer audible, but that doesn't mean the man is any less tense.

"Come on," says Joel. "Let's get outta here."

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

The second floor, unfortunately, also has hunters on it. Harry doesn't know how that's possible, since Joel, Ellie and himself had to use magic to climb the stairs without falling to their death. But since this is a hotel, he can guess that there are probably other staircases elsewhere and those were the ones used by the hunters to access this level.

Instead of facing the hunters in combat, the trio heads up to the third floor.

"If this floor also has hunters, then we have to face them," says Joel quietly. "We can't continue avoiding them like this, 'cause if we make too much noise then we might attract those hunters we just passed and we'll be in even deeper shit. We shouldn't leave too many enemies alive in case they come back later."

It isn't exactly something Harry is happy with, but he can understand what Joel is getting at. So he neither disagrees nor agrees, instead just letting out a wordless hum to indicate that he understands.

They end up in a small waiting room with two lift accesses. The door leading to the floor itself with all of its hallways and rooms is inaccessible as part of the ceiling and the walls has fallen down. The rubble is covered in mattresses and furniture, probably put there by the hunters. Even if Harry uses levitation to get rid of the rubble, the floor might be too unstable to walk on.

At first glance it seems like they are at a dead end and they will have to return to the second floor to fight (and kill) those hunters. However, Joel surprises Harry by heading over to the elevators. The doors of one of the lifts are half open, so Joel puts one hand on either door, fingers inside the opening, and pulls the doors open. He does it slowly and there is an awful groaning sound as the metal doors are pushed to either side. Harry keeps an eye on the stairs they all came from, ready in case a hunter has heard the noise and might decide to come investigate.

It seems they are in luck, because no one comes.

Finally, the doors are open, and Joel goes in first. The elevator is stopped slightly higher than the floor level, so Joel has to climb up in order to get in. While Ellie follows the man in, Harry takes a look at the inside of the elevator and notices a ladder set there. He wonders how Joel knew about it, and the fact that the ladder leads up to an opening in the ceiling of the lift.

As Joel climbs the ladder, Harry enters the elevator slowly, still keeping an eye on the stairs. He would not be surprised if an enemy were to appear just as they think they are managing to escape this hotel. Ellie and Harry both climb the metal ladder and arrive out on the roof of the elevator. It's quite dark, but there is still some measure of visibility.

The walls of the elevator shaft are bare concrete and there is a small ledge that is part of the wall right in front of Harry. Joel is on that ledge, and slowly making his way towards the second elevator shaft parallel to the one they are in and easily accessible. It belongs to the second lift, the one that had closed doors.

The second lift is set quite a bit lower in the shaft, and higher up in one of the walls there is an opening leading to the fourth floor. The metal doors have been torn out, making it easy to see the opening.

"Harry," calls Joel, "do you think you could make me fly up to that opening?"

"Yes," says Harry.

The only other way the man could access the opening would be to drop down on top of the second elevator, and then get a boost up to get to the fourth floor. Unfortunately the lift has been there for several years and might not hold under the strain of an adult standing on it. The years have probably weakened the structure.

_"Wingardium Leviosa!"_  
  
Joel is floated up to the opening and lands there safely. He turns around to look down at Ellie and Harry.

"Do the same for Ellie," the man gently orders.

Once again, the spell is used. It comes as no surprise that the levitation spell is the only one Harry can cast wandless on the first try. He's had to use it so many times that he has gotten enough practice to be very talented at using it.

Harry makes Ellie fly up to Joel and the man grabs her as soon as she comes close, holding her until she has her feet safely on the ground next to him and isn't in any danger of falling.

"Get down on the elevator and come near us," says Joel. "I'll pull you up."

Harry crouches down on the ledge and jumps off of it, landing heavily on the lift. The sound he hears makes him wince. The cables holding the elevator are making noise of protest and he really doesn't feel safe right now. He walks over to the opposite side of the lift rather slowly, as walking too fast seems to make the groans and creeks even louder.

Up ahead, Joel gets down on his knees and leans down, holding a hand out for Harry. Harry is just a few inches too short to grab hold of the man's hand, so he has to jump to manage. It takes two jumps before he grabs hold of Joel's hand and the sounds of the elevator are getting quite loud. Just as Joel starts pulling Harry up, there comes the sound of a cable snapping, and the lift tilts to the side.

Hurriedly, Joel's second hand comes down to grasp Harry and he pulls Harry up just as something else breaks and the elevator goes tumbling down. It lands with a _splash_ in the depths of the flooded basement at the bottom of the shaft while Joel pulls Harry up onto the fourth floor with him. Harry climbs over the edge, white-faced.

" _Jesus!"_ exclaims Joel as soon as Harry is safe. "That was way too fucking close."

"No kidding," says Ellie, eyes wide.

Harry steps away from the elevator shaft, unwilling to tempt fate.

"Well," he says, trying to lighten the mood, "at least travelling with you guys never gets boring."

Ellie snorts. Even Joel smiles at the joke despite usually being brusque and serious.


	6. Pittsburgh - 2

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

The level is empty of people. There are no hunters, and so the trio feels safe to explore. They find two bottles of water, a leather jacket and a rusty metal pole. The metal pole is given to Harry as a way to defend himself in case he doesn't have time to bring out his bow. He appreciates the gesture, as he would prefer to avoid revealing his magical abilities to enemies if he has a choice, and having an alternate weapon gives him such a choice. As for the leather jacket, Joel uses one of his shivs to rip it into long, thick leather strips.

"Here," he says, handing some of them to Harry. "Keep them in your pockets or your backpack. If we get to a zone with Infected, you can wrap it around your throat for protection. It probably won't stop a Clicker, but it'll give you a few seconds while it tries to chew through the leather to try and get away from it."

Harry runs his fingers along the length of one of the strips, feeling the rough edges where Joel's shiv had snagged or cut in an uneven pattern. "Wouldn't it be better if I put it on right now?"

"No," answers Joel, shaking his head. "It's too warm. You'll just sweat and it'll be uncomfortable. Keep 'em on you and put them on when you really need to."

"Thanks." Harry opens the smaller, front pocket of his backpack and puts the strips of leather there.

Another thing the group found during its explorations is that several sides of the outside of the hotel has scaffolding along its walls. They've been steadily climbing the levels of the hotel without finding a way out and, considering the amount of hunters they sneaked past, it would be good to leave the hotel as soon as possible in order to avoid being caught.

The scaffolding doesn't seem very steady, so Joel instructs Harry and Ellie to take off the covers of the mouldy duvets in the bedrooms nearby. It takes a few minutes before Joel has a nice pile of covers near him. He picks the cloth up and starts cutting it, making long strips like he did with the leather jacket a few minutes ago.

Once Joel has enough long strips, he gestures at Ellie to halt just as she is comes over to put down yet another few duvet covers that she and Harry searched for.

"Harry, you continue searching for more of those. Ellie, I need you to come here and take over for me. D'you think you can cut this like I've been doing?" He holds up one of the covers he's been cutting into, showing her the length and width of the strip he was in the process of cutting.

"It'll be a piece of cake," boasts Ellie, skipping over to sit down next to Joel.

He hands her the shiv he was using and she starts working.

"What are you going to do in the meantime?" says Harry as he puts down several duvet covers near Ellie.

Joel picks up several of the long strips he has made and shows them to Harry. "I'm gonna braid these together to make some sort of rope. That way if the scaffolding breaks while we're climbing down, then we won't fall to our deaths."

It takes a while for them to make a proper rope. They braid enough strips of cloth together to ensure it's very thick and make it as long as they can. They aren't sure of the height they are at, but they make an estimation and try to make the rope longer than that estimation to ensure they won't run out of rope while climbing down.

They aren't bothered by anyone, as the fourth floor of the hotel seems to be inaccessible through normal means. That means that there are no hunters present, and so the trio works in peace.

Finally, after quite a while of work (with Harry having joined Joel in braiding after the pile of duvet covers grew tall enough), their makeshift rope is ready.

"I'll tie this to the bed," says Joel, gesturing at the king-sized bed in the hotel room they are in. "Pick up your things and get ready to leave."

While Ellie slips her backpack on, Harry slides open the window they are about to use as an exit and observes the surrounding buildings. He cannot see any hunters, so there's a high chance Harry and the two others won't get seen and shot at while they descend the rickety scaffolding.

While Harry was occupied, Joel tied the end of the rope several times around different parts of the bed, making a god job of ensuring it will hold. He holds on to the other end of the rope and wraps it around his hand several times, and then gives the rest of the length to Ellie. She follows his example and wraps it around her own hand, before giving the rest of the rope to Harry, who does the same.

They end up with one end of the rope tied to the bed, and the other end tied to the group of three. There is a very long length of rope between each end.

Joel holds the long length in his free hand so that if they all fall, they won't freefall down the entire length of the braided cloth.

Finally, after tugging at the rope a few times, testing it as well as he could, Joel deems them ready to go.

"Harry, you're first. Go slowly and always test the floor before putting all your weight on it. Some of those metal bars look like they're about to give out any minute. Ellie, you stay hidden behind him and keep an eye out for hunters. I'll have gun in case we run into any trouble."

Indeed, he is holding a handgun in one of his hands. Holding the gun and the rope at the same time seems difficult, which is probably why he opted for a handgun instead of his rifle or his shotgun. Ellie is also holding a weapon, though in her free hand, not the one holding onto the rope. It's a pocket knife, sharp and obviously cared for.

The man nods at Harry, signaling for the teenager to get out of the window. Harry nods back and steps outside, putting a foot down on the metal floor of the scaffolding. There is not unsettling ground or any sound indicating that the floor is about to give out, which is mildly reassuring. Harry steps out entirely, crouching down. He feels terribly exposed, as the scaffolding only has bare metal bars serving as a a guardrail and nothing to hide behind. If a hunter in a nearby building with a long-distance firearm spots them, then they will be killed before they can get down on solid ground.

Ellie steps out behind him as he starts making his way towards the metal stairs that lead downwards. He can hear Joel's heavy steps behind Ellie as they all form a single file and walk down onto the third floor. It's at that moment that they hear, through one of the open windows of the hotel, the sounds of at least two hunters discussing.

Everyone freezes, tensing up.

"... and the scouts said the tourists came into this building," one of the voices is saying. "Three of them, apparently. An old man, a young man, and a girl."

"A girl?" responds the second voice, interested. "Man, it's been a while since I got my hands on—" The person stops talking as the sound of Ellie dropping her knife in surprise is heard.

"... You heard that?" asks the first voice.

"Hmmm..." says the second voice, grin audible. "I think we got ourselves some _prey_."

The hunters both advance towards the window, outside of which Harry, Joel and Ellie are hiding. Harry hides on one side of the window, leaning against the wall with Ellie behind him, while Joel is on the other side, holding his gun. The rusty metal pole sticking out of Harry's backpack is retrieved, and he prepares himself to hit hard enough to stun one of the hunters while Joel does the shooting.

Not long ago, Harry was saying that he does not want to kill. It's against his morals and he does not want to do something that puts him on the same level as murderers like Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

But this situation feels different, and for the first time, Harry begins to see Joel's side of things. The moment both hunters lean out of the open windows, Harry's monochrome morals get an increase in grey zones, with less black and white ones. It's kill or be killed, with no in-between. They can't knock someone out, because that person will wake up and alert other people before Harry, Ellie and Joel will be out of Pittsburgh.

Harry's weapon comes swinging 'round with a powerful whistling sound, smacking into the two faces of the hunters with force. The hunter closest to Harry gets his nose caved in, while the other one only receives a bruising hit. Without even giving them the time to scream, Joel leans through the open window, aiming at the dazed hunters on the ground, and shoots twice.

Bang! Bang!

Two headshots. The men are dead before they fully realize what happened.

"Someone will have heard that," mutters Joel. "We gotta get down quick."

The sound of other hunters raising the alarm is heard through the open window. Within seconds, everyone on that floor will be aware of the trio's position. They have to make their way to the ground fast before they are overwhelmed. Harry knows that killing the hunters on each level of the hotel instead of sneaking past them would have made this part easier, but on the other hand he's somewhat glad he won't have to kill dozens of people...

... unless they get caught, that is.

Harry hurries down, trying to stay subtle while nearly running down the stairs. Ellie follows less stealthily, while Joel manages to move without making a sound. Out of the three of them, Joel is clearly the most experienced at this.

The problem starts when they reach the second floor. A hunter sees them through an open window and raises his rifle, pointing it at them. Joel pushes Ellie and Harry roughly down, making them fall on the floor and avoid the bullet aimed at them. Unfortunately, the weight of both Harry and Ellie on the same spot makes the old metal groan. It gives out, a large part of the metal flooring breaking off and falling down.

Harry barely has a second to realize what just happened before he's falling through the hole, pulling Ellie with him.

Joel tries to stop their fall, but he's standing and the act of holding the rope carrying them all makes him overbalance. He falls down, powerless to stop his descent.

The fall takes barely a few seconds. Harry smashes into the first floor of the scaffolding, with Ellie crashing down on him and nearly breaking one of his ribs. Joel, luckily, does not fall down on them and manages to land in a semi-controlled manner, using his momentum to roll forward.

Harry lets go of the rope, having realized it's too long to break his fall in anyway. Even if he does fall down again, he's just one level higher than the ground, and a fall from this distance won't hurt him.

The hunter above them is shouting for back-up instead of leaning out of the window to shoot at them. Unfortunately, that means that Joel cannot aim his gun at the man.

"Come on, quick!" says Joel, making his way down the stairs.

Harry stands up with some difficulty, still in pain from where Ellie landed on him, and helps the girl up. They run after Joel, trying to leave the scene before the hunter upstairs gets reinforcements to arrive.

They reach the ground level, which is a small road blocked off on both sides by large concrete barriers serving as roadblocks, with several abandoned cars beyond them, effectively serving as big barricades on both sides. The part of the street the trio is standing on, between the concrete barriers, is curiously devoid of vehicles.

On the other side of the road are tall buildings, mostly residential. The windows and doors are broken, and the buildings look gutted.

At that moment, the hunter reinforcements in the hotel make themselves by shooting down at the street.

Joel runs to the other side of the street in an erratic zigzag pattern to make himself a harder target to shoot at. Ellie and Harry follow his example and they all enter the empty shells that were once apartment buildings.

They all lean against the wall, Joel on one side of the door they just entered through, and Harry and Ellie on the other side. Joel has put his handgun away in favour of the rifle strapped to his backpack. He holds it firmly and tilts his upper body to the side, shooting a few times at the hunters in the hotel before hiding behind the wall again.

"There are too damn many of them," says Joel. "We shoulda killed them while we were in the hotel."

Harry leans to the side to look out the doorway. At the other side of the street, some hunters are climbing out of the windows and onto the scaffolding, trying to make their way down to street level.

"Joel, some of them are coming out!" Harry warns.

"Damn it!" exclaims Joel. He points his rifle at a hunter already on the first floor and shoots the man. The hunter falls heavily, causing yet another part of the scaffolding to break off. Hopefully that'll make it difficult for any more hunters to come down. "We can't stay here. More hunters are coming."

He looks behind himself, at the inside of the building, but the entire place is empty of anything useful. It's been raided by others long before Joel, Harry and Ellie came. They cannot go back outside because they'll be shot down immediately, and the building they're in doesn't provide much cover.

"What now?" asks Ellie.

Joel weighs their options. "We've gotta head upstairs. Staying here won't help us any. You and Harry go upstairs while I prepare a trap for anyone coming over here." And with those words, he pulls out a nail bomb from his backpack.

"Got it," says Ellie, nodding firmly.

She heads upstairs with Harry, leaving Joel to prepare a nasty trap for their assailants.

 

 

-x-x-x-

 

 

It seems the entire building really is empty. All furniture has been taken out, leaving every room bare. On top of that, most of the walls of the upper floors have been purposely knocked down, creating large and open spaces. Harry has no idea why this was done, but it's extremely inconvenient. If the hunters enter the building, then there won't be anything Harry, Joel and Ellie can use as cover to avoid bullets.

Ellie kicks the wall in frustration. They're up on the fifth floor, which is the highest level, and they haven't found a way to get out of their problematic situation. "This is fucking annoying!" she exclaims. "What are we supposed to do? They're gonna catch up any minute and we have nowhere to go!"

Harry looks out of a window set in a wall opposite the wall facing the hotel. He can see a playground full of weeds and a pond covered in filth. Unfortunately, he can see hunters patrolling down there too. They don't seem to be aware that Harry and his two companions are nearby.

"Ellie? Harry?"

It's Joel's voice. He's running up the stairs, holding a handgun.

"We're up here!" Ellie responds, waving a hand.

He spots her and some of his tenseness goes away. He hurries up the last few steps to join them.

"That bomb I set should buy us a few seconds," he says, "but not much more. Did you guys find anything useful?"

"This place is completely empty," says Ellie.

"We could leave through a window and go out the back of the building," adds Harry. "I saw a playground there, with several hunters patrolling the area."

Joel sighs, gaze combing their surroundings to try and find a solution. Finally, his eyes stop on the ceiling directly above their heads, and he smirks.

"How about we do something better?" he proposes.

Harry and Ellie both look up. There's a door set in the ceiling, leading up to the attic.

"I noticed some big windows set in in the roof, which means that if we get up there and close the door after us, the hunters might not notice this door and might think we went off to that playground instead. That would give us time to escape through the window and get on the roof," he explains. "Since this building is right up against the building next to it, we could use the rooftops to travel."

At that moment, the sound of an explosion is heard. The nail gun has gone off, triggered by the motions of the hunters. Movement sets it off, and the hunters must have kicked it as they entered the building.

Joel shakes his head. "No time. Ellie, if I boost you up, can you open that door for me?"

Ellie nods.

Joel braids his fingers together and holds his intertwined hands out for Ellie, palms up. She places her foot there and, grasping Joel's shoulder for leverage, rises high enough to open the door.

Harry can hear the hunters coming up the stairs. They're moving slowly and carefully, wary of being shot at. Their slow speed is what gives the trio enough time to escape.

The door in the ceiling is opened and a metal ladder comes sliding down. Ellie goes up first, followed by Harry and then Joel. They manage to close the door after themselves before the hunters reach their floor and see where they are going. Hopefully, upon finding an empty building, the hunters will think Harry, Joel and Ellie escaped through the back and entered the playground outside.

The attic is dark. Unlike the rest of the building, it hasn't been emptied and there are still things that can be of use.

Joel's seems to be particularly interested in a liquor cabinet with several bottles of alcohol still there. When Ellie notices the look on his face, she glares.

"I hope Marlene didn't hire an alcoholic to get me to their facility." It sounds half like a joke and half like an accusation.

Joel shakes his head slowly. "Nah, that ain't the case. It's just... that bottle there is the same kind as the last drink Tess and I had together before she..." He trails off, looking away.

Ellie's face shows faint surprise, before her expression turns somber. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Joel ruffles her hair, a faint smile on his face. "It's fine. You couldn't have known."

The moment they share is tender. Harry, standing by himself a bit further away, feels like he's intruding on something private so he turns around and gets busy opening the window they are going to escape through.

The roof is not in the best of states. A lot of tiles have fallen off, and moss is growing everywhere. Harry is made aware of the presence of the moss immediately after getting out on the roof. He steps on some moss without noticing. There's a squelching sound as he slips, falling down and sliding down the roof.

"Guys!" he shouts, forgetting to keep his volume down to avoid being heard by hunters.

Panicking, he rakes his nails against the roof and manages to grab the edge of one of the holes where the tiles have fallen off. It slows his descent but does not stop it, as the tiles he grabbed hold of start dislodging as well.

He tries to think of a spell, _any_ spell, to help him but none comes to mind.

His shoes, the same trainers he was wearing when he was on the run with Ron and Hermione, attempt to find purchase on the roof.

It's not working.

The roof is old and most of the tiles are just being pushed off by Harry's feet and hands as he tries to find a good hold. The yet, slippery moss does not improve things.

"Harry!"

The cry came from Ellie. She has only just arrived near the window leading out onto the roof.

Her call distracts Harry too much and he slips further down, stopping when his feet encounter something that doesn't give.

He looks down. His feet are on the edge of the roof, set on the open pipes used for draining rainwater. He isn't sliding down anymore, and he isn't sure he wants to try moving in case the drainpipe is older and more brittle than it appears. It's already bending under his weight and he can hear it groan in protest.

Falling from the roof of a five-story building is not something he wants to experience.

The worse thing is, from where he is he can see the playground down beneath, with hunters patrolling the zone. Fortunately Harry isn't on the other side of the building, or else the hunters shooting from the windows of the hotel he was in earlier would have spotted him easily.

"Fuck, just _don't move,"_ Ellie commands.

Joel, who is right behind her, moves to help Harry.

"Be careful!" Harry warns. "Most of the tiles are unstable and the moss is soaking wet."

Joel nods. "I'm coming over."

He crouches down and starts slowly making his way over to Harry. Ellie stays by the window, looking at them both in worry.

Joel avoids the tiles, placing his feet on the holes in the roof where the layers under the tiles are exposed. His body is nearly completely plastered against the roof, both hands grasping at whatever handholds he can find.

While Harry lost his footing almost immediately after setting foor on the roof, Joel has no trouble making his way over to Harry.

"Take my hand," says Joel when he's close enough. He doesn't come too close as the roof might not be able to carry both of their weight concentrated in one area.

Harry grasps the hand and Joel pulls him up. They both make their way to the top of the roof and join Ellie without being noticed by the hunters below.

"C'mon, this way," says Joel, voice low.

He slowly heads over to the side of the building, as it shares a wall with its next door building. They will be able to travel from roof to roof for a bit before being forced back down on the ground. It is perfect, giving them a good view of the streets below and any potential enemies, while keeping them largely out of harm's reach.

They have to walk carefully, as the ground is unstable. Two decades have passed since the Cordyceps infection first broke out across the world, and evidently it has brought several buildings to a state of disrepair.

Luckily the roof of the next building doesn't have loose tiles, though the trio still walks carefully in order to avoid any more incidents.

"Is that the bridge you wanted to head over to?" asks Ellie.

She is pointing at a large yellow bridge, visible in the distance. Its sheer size means it dwarfs the buildings around it and is thus easy to spot from afar.

"Yes," says Joel. His face looks grave as he stares at the bridge, a frown deepening the wrinkles on his face. "It shouldn't take more than half an hour to get there. That bridge is our best bet for leaving Pittsburgh."

Harry isn't sure it'll really take half an hour to get to that bridge. There are hunters everywhere, and that is bound to slow them down.

"It's a shame we don't have our car anymore," Harry says. "We would've been out of here by now."

Joel shrugs. "Kid, when you've lived as long as I have, you'll realize that sometimes shitty things happen and there's nothing you can do to avoid that. You just have to learn to adapt and deal with it."

"To the edge of the universe and back," murmurs Ellie. "Endure and survive."

Frowning, Harry turns to Ellie. "What?"

She grins. "It's a quote from Savage Starlight. I got one of the comics from Bill's stuff, back at his place."

"Yeah," says Harry. "You told me that before, when you saw that poster for the movie adaptation."

Ellie sighs, placing her hands on her hips and leaning her upper body back in order to stare up at the sky. "Sometimes I just wish I could've lived at that time. I mean, before the world went to shit. I wouldn't have to worry about dying, or even getting enough food to feel full. I'd be shopping, talking about boys and doing all that stuff normal girls should be doing. I'd be able to go watch the Savage Starlight movie instead of worrying about getting to the Fireflies alive and in one piece..."

Harry places a hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly in an attempt to offer some comfort.

Joel shakes his head. "No use thinking 'bout stuff that won't happen. Make the best of what you have."

"Yeah..." mumbles Ellie, obviously downcast.

There is a moment of silence. Joel seems to want to say something, but changes his mind and continues walking. Harry follows him and Ellie brings up the rear.

They arrive on the roof of yet another building. This one has a large hole in it, leading into what used to be someone's bedroom, but is now full of plants, rotten furniture and birds nesting there.

One of the birds shrieks at them, flying away as they approach. Joel waves the rest of the birds away, and enters the room. Harry and Ellie follow him in, and the three all make their way further into the building.

The next rooms are in a much better state, as they have not been exposed to the weather, fauna and flora for years. It becomes quickly apparent that the three travelers are in an appartment that once belonged to a very rich family.

The walls are covered in tasteful paintings with hand-carved frames. There are more sculptures around the flat than Harry thinks necessary and every room seems to follow a strict colour scheme.

"Woah," Ellie exclaims, staring at the gigantic kitchen they are entering. "Did your home look like this, before the outbreak?" The question is aimed at Joel, who is in the process if opening drawers in search of anything useful.

"No," answers the man. He doesn't even look up from what he's doing. "This sorta place was well outside my means. I wouldn't even be able to pay the rent of a place this big."

Ellie picks up a pizza cutter, staring at it like it's the most fascinating thing she's ever seen, while Harry steals a small kitchen knife hanging from a magnetic holder on the wall. He doesn't have anything to wrap around the handle so he can safely store the weapon in his backpack, so instead he keeps it in his hand.

"What does this thing do?" asks Ellie. She's still holding the kitchen tool in her hand, shaking it as if that will reveal its purpose.

"It's used to cut pizza," Harry explains.

Ellie frowns. "Only pizza?"

Harrry nods.

"That's kinda dumb. Why have this thing when a knife works just as well, and has more uses?"

"A knife sometimes makes a bit of a mess. With a pizza cutter, usually cheese doesn't go everywhere," answers Joel. He opens the fridge and winces when several insects come skittering out. Fungal growths are inside the fridge, though luckily it doesn't seem to be Cordyceps. It's a more ordinary kind of mushroom growing from the remains of decades old food left behind by the owner.

"What is it?" asks Ellie. She comes over and her faces twists in disgust when she sees the contents of the fridge. " _Ew._ That's disgusting." She looks down warily at the insects crawling out of the fridge and steps out of their range.

Joel's left hand is on the counter next to the fridge and a centipede climbs up on his thumb. With a small smirk, he flicks his hand and sends the insect flying. It lands on Ellie's chest, right on the sternum.

"Get it off me!" she shrieks. She paws at the insect and pushes it off her with previously unsuspected strength.

Harry can't help it: He starts laughing. Joel is chuckling, highly amused at Ellie's reaction.

"Oh _ha ha_ ," says Ellie, the sarcasm nearly tangible. "Very funny. Hilarious, really." She glares at them, arms crossed defiantly.

"Sorry, kid," says Joel, still smiling, "I couldn't resist."

Ellie opens her mouth to respond but freezes.

There is a moment of confusion when Harry wonders what's wrong, before he hears it. Voices, coming from somewhere further away in the building, on the same level as Harry and his two companions.

The voices are too faint for Harry to understand what is being said, but he can clearly distinguish the alarm. There are other people in the building, and they're aware of Harry, Joel and Ellie.

"Shit," mutters Joel. "They're coming this way." He brings out his handgun and crouches down behind one of the counters in the kitchen.

The kitchen has several counters and an oven in the centre, forming some sort of island. There is a semi-circle consisting of even more counters as well as cupboards and a fridge, surrounding the island. Beyond the semi-circle is the door the hunters are most likely to come in through.

The counter Joel is hidden behind is part of that semi-circle and closest to the door. Harry and Ellie hide behind the island, crouching down behind the oven.

Harry sets down his knife on the floor and brings out his bow, as well as one arrow. If he has to defend himself, he'd rather not do it with a knife. A knife feels too bloody and confrontational. Harry still isn't happy at the idea of killing, but if he has to do it he'd rather use a long ranged weapon to both metaphorically and physically distance himself from what he might be forced to do.

The door opens, and Harry leans further down, hiding as well as he can. He grips his weapon tightly as the grim determination to survive at all costs takes hold of him.

Two hunters come in. There are more, because Harry can hear several hunters discussing outside the door, in the next room. He can feel his heart beating faster at the realization that Joel, Ellie and himself are outnumbered. He can only hope the difference in numbers is not too high.

Only those two hunters are coming in, it seems. The others are waiting further away and standing guard.

One of the hunters enters the kitchen area. The other one continues walking and heads over to the living room. The kitchen, living room and dining room are all set in the same room, but separated by glass barriers between each of them.

Joel hurries after the one in the kitchen area. He circles the man, using the counters to stay hidden from view. Then, just as the man bends down to look at the half-open fridge that hadn't been closed, Joel leans over him and grabs the hunter, his arm coming round to choke the man.

The man tries to shout, to fight. The only thing he can do is emit a faint gurgle as he dies after an impossibly long time.

Harry is stuck, staring at the scene. Joel is carefully laying the warm corpse on the floor as silently as possible. Harry still cannot get used to the way Joel and Ellie seem to disregard human life and see murder as an ordinary, everyday thing.

How long did it take for them to stop being shocked at every death, every murder? How long will it be before Harry becomes like them?

Harry's morals are an integral part of who he is. If he kills, then what right would he have to condemn Lord Voldemort's actions when Harry would be no better? Those serious crimes... torture, murder, and so many others... they are what separates the good guys from the bad. If Harry kills, then not only is he no better than Lord Voldemort, but he has also let go of one of his most defining personality traits. This world filled with inferi will have changed him, and he's not sure he wants to become the person he sees as himself in his future.

However, he has no effective way of subduing these hunters and puts Joel and Ellie in danger by letting potential threats live long enough to come back and cause even more trouble.

"Shoot the other one," whispers Ellie, elbowing Harry in the arm when he doesn't move.

Harry looks at the second man, who is in the process of leaving the living room to head for the bedroom Harry and the two others entered through.

The hunter is still in sight, so Harry raises his bow and pulls his arm back, aiming carefully. He's trembling, and he knows that even if he has the courage to shoot, he won't be able to hit his target.

"I can't," he says, voice cracking, and it's the truth. He hasn't been in this world long enough to turn into a cold-blooded killer. He still hasn't felt the true desperation to live that Joel and Ellie must have felt for years, living in this hellish world. He hasn't felt enough fear to justify senseless killing.

He should be proud. He knows that. Staying firm and being faithful to your beliefs and morals is a good thing. However, the looks of disappointment and annoyance on Ellie and Joel's respective faces just makes him feel bad, like he did something awful by refusing to kill a man. The knowledge that his inability to attack and help defend Ellie, humanity's chance for a vaccine against Cordyceps, makes him a burden for the team just makes him feel even worse about his refusal.

And as Joel heads over to kill the second hunter and Ellie studiously avoids looking at him, frowning unhappily, Harry realizes that while his refusal to kill is a good thing at first glance, the second hunter's life won't be spared. Harry's refusal to kill didn't save anyone. It simply put him and his group more at risk as well as it broke Ellie and Joel's trust in him.

Joel might've said he respected Harry's desire to avoid killing when Harry first spoke of it, but he also said that such an attitude would come back to haunt Harry. And it seems that is happening now as Ellie refuses to look at him and even took a few steps away from him, while Joel seems to simply exude disappointment as he chokes the second hunter to death.

They barely know each other, and Harry already killed most of the semse of camaraderie that has been achieved.

He feels worse than ever and for the first time seriously contemplates actually _using_ his bow on a human, perhaps even one of the hunters he can still hear talking outside the kitchen.

Somehow he can guess that it would take a lot more for Ellie and Joel's trust in him to return.

The next second, he feels bad for contemplating murder, even though he has helped Joel kill several people already, and he feels even more conflicted.

If he kills in this world and somehow manages to get back to Hermione and Ron, will he even be able to look them in the eye, knowing he's no better than Voldemort?

For a while now he has been unsettled at the amount of things he and Voldemort have in common. He's not sure he could live with himself if voluntary, premeditated and cold-blooded murder is added to the list.

After the second hunter is killed, Joel moves towards the door leading towards the next room, where other hunters are waiting. The way he purposely ignores Harry makes his disappointment clear. Harry's magical abilities might be the only reason why Joel even bothers keeping him around. After all, what is his use if he can't even protect his companions? All he would be is a burden, eating part of their meagre food reserves.

Joel leans against the wall, opening the door a crack to take a look at the situation outside. Ellie sneaks over to him and hides behind the wall also, holding a knife in a tight grip.

Harry looks down at his bow, feeling guiltier than ever, and moves to join them.

A look outside the door tells Harry all he needs to know. There are three more hunters in the next room. It seems to be yet another living room, but with a gigantic TV set on the wall, a gaming console and several bookshelves against the walls full of books and other such things.

Harry is still sometimes surprised at the level of technology he has seen in abandoned homes. He had not only been displaced from his world to this magic-less, apocalyptic place. Apparently he had also been displaced through time, something he'd noticed before meeting Bill in Lincoln. He'd stopped at a small village when he still had his wand and had been staring at the place in surprise. At the time he hadn't realized he wasn't in his world anymore—he'd believed Voldemort or the man's servants had somehow found a way to send Harry away from his friends. Not only had he discovered the small village was in America of all places, but an abandoned newspaper had had the year 2013 stamped on it.

That, and the fact that the Ministry hadn't come to punish him for using magic in a muggle environment, had been some of the first clues that he wasn't in his world anymore.

He can see even more proof that this world is more advanced technology-wise than his had been. The TV is too thin and too large. It looks sleek and elegant. The gaming console is smaller than those Harry has seen at the Dursleys' home and there are no VCR cassettes to be found.

The hunters are chatting. Two are sitting on a sagging couch, facing the TV and with their backs to the half-open door Harry, Joel and Ellie are looking through. The third hunter is examining a book shelf and selecting a few slim books, reading the summaries on the back with interest. He's closer, and his face is turned in the direction of Harry, Joel and Ellie. There is no way for them to sneak in and kill the hunters stealthily.

While the two hunters on the couch discuss, Joel heads back towards the kitchen, followed by Ellie and Harry. He searches through the fridge and brings out a glass bottle filled with a disgusting murky liquid.

Ellie seems to understand what he's about to do and she quickly hides behind one of the kitchen counters. Harry doesn't know what's about to happen, but he follows her lead and hides too.

Joel stays hidden in the same spot as when they were ambushing the earlier two hunters, and he holds the bottle up. He doesn't aim very well, and just throws it in the direction of the corpse of the second hunter.

The glass shatters loudly, and Harry hears the three hunters exclaim in surprise.

"What the hell was that?" shouts one of the men, his voice muffled through the wall.

Harry leans even further down. Any minute now, the men are going to come in. Joel will sneak up behind them and kill them.

Swallowing back nausea, Harry tries to focus. It's hard. He's been brought up in a society that treasures life and despises senseless murder. And yet, this new world he is in seems to require murder, normalizing it in a way Harry has trouble accepting.

He really doesn't know what to do, but he knows he has to make a decision fast. Joel won't stay silent on the matter forever—at some point the man will want Harry to make himself useful instead of stand around like bait, entirely defenceless against humans.

Joel's actions, the way he is now ignoring Harry, already shows how different the society Harry was brought up in is from the one he is in now.


	7. Pittsburgh - 3

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

The speed at which the three hunters are killed feels anti-climactic. Joel waits until they are all inside and sneaks behind the ones slightly behind the two others, using a shiv to kill the man fast and silently. Then, Joel retrieves his bow from where it's strapped to his backpack. Joel's bow is larger than Harry's and looks much more battered than the professional-looking bow Harry found in a sports shop.

Joel kills one of the two remaining hunters with a headshot and the man falls down next to his companion, leaking blood. While the second hunter exclaims in surprise and starts turning around to face Joel, he is hit by an arrow too and joins his companion on the floor.

"Finally," says Ellie, rising from her hiding place.

Joel is leaning down over the body of one of the hunters and wiping his shiv against the corpse's clothes to clean it. When he's done, he rises and turns to Harry.

"Why d'you freeze up like that?" he asks.

Harry thinks back on the moment he'd been unable to kill one of the hunters and Joel had had to do it for him.

"It's just like I said earlier," he says, trying to stand firm by his beliefs despite the fact that showing mercy and avoiding murder is starting to somehow feel wrong. He shouldn't feel guilty, he really shouldn't, but somehow it's happening anyway. "I can't… I can't kill. Killing Infected is fine, but these guys are people. They might have families, friends… I just… can't."

Joel rolls his eyes. "That's fine. You don't see Ellie doing a lot of killing either. But if you don't want to take part in these fights, then I gotta know. You had that bow out like you were gonna use it, and I went into the situation thinking I had backup. If you have your weapon out, you gotta deliver. I could have been hurt or killed 'cause I was expectin' you to help out there."

Somehow, Harry hasn't even thought of things that way.

"So it doesn't bother you if I can't help kill these hunters?" Harry asks in surprise.

Joel sighs and looks at Harry with an expression that hints at condescension. "Kid, I've been dealing with this kinda shit on my own for a long while. I've learnt to fight and to kill without any sorta help. As long as I can count on you to help us out and get Ellie to the Fireflies, then I'm happy. Your magic tricks helped us out a lot today and I don't regret taking you with us. Just don't bring your weapon out if you ain't gonna use it. I have to know if I'll be getting help or not. I really don't want this kind of situation happening again."

"Oh," says Harry, feeling oddly grateful. He was so worried there would be a negative reaction after he failed to kill that hunter, but Joel's been more understanding than Harry would have thought.

"What kinda person are you anyway?" asks Ellie. "You have more trouble killing than anyone else I've met. Those hunters were gonna kill us, but you still couldn't bring yourself to kill them. Did you spend your whole life sheltered in a really peaceful Quarantine Zone or something?"

Harry isn't quite sure how to answer that question. He decides to use a vague version of the truth. "The magical society where I come from was separate from the normal world, so I didn't have to deal with Cordyceps because the fungus couldn't get to us. We had a government and a police force so the average citizen usually never killed in their whole life."

Ellie's eyes are wide and she is listening with great interest. Even Joel is paying attention, standing still and listening to Harry's words.

"How come you're here with us and not in that safe place?" asks Ellie.

"Well," says Harry, trying to think of a way to tell the truth without explaining exactly what happened. He is already lucky that the duo didn't make more of a fuss when they discovered his powers and instead accepted it surprisingly quickly. "There was an incident, a few months ago. To make it short, the entire magical society no longer exists and I'm the last wizard left. The others aren't… _here_ , anymore. I've been trying to adapt but it's… hard."

He is telling the truth, but the way he is saying it makes it seem like all the other wizards were killed, which is not entirely true.

What is even harder than being forced to adapt to such a brutal world is the fact that Harry is far from his friends. He has no idea if Voldemort will be defeated if he can't help find the horcruxes and he's really worried his friends will focus on trying to get him back home instead of spending all their time trying to hunt down Voldemort's horcruxes. And, as shameful as it might be, there is a small part of Harry who is glad to no longer live under the constant threat of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It's funny, but Harry is much more content living in a world full of mushroom-themed inferi with Joel and Ellie than being back in Britain as the Chosen One. But still, he wants to return to his friends and won't stop searching for a way back to his own world. The only problem is that even with his wand intact, he wouldn't know what to do in order to return to where he comes from.

Features set in an expression of sympathy, Ellie gives him a supportive smile. "I hope you'll be okay."

Harry smiles back. "Don't worry. I'm fine."

He isn't really fine, but he knows he will be. Helping bring a potential vaccine to humanity already makes him feel happy. When he first came to this world, he struggled to survive. Then he met Bill and was able to eat and have a safe place to sleep as well as some human company. But the truth is, he was starting to get bored at Bill's, feeling unhappy because he wasn't doing anything to try and get home and yet couldn't think of anything to do.

Ellie is immune to the fungus that has been responsible for creating vicious, animated corpses. Bringing her to the Fireflies is apparently one step closer to creating a vaccine and helping humanity stand on its own two feet again.

So no, he isn't entirely fine. He wants to be back with his best friends because nothing can replace them. But he doesn't know how to do that, so until he finds a way, he's content helping others and saving lives by aiding in the creation of a vaccine. His promise to Bill and his own desire to help others are in total agreement. He's bringing Ellie to the Fireflies and he's happy to do so.

Joel exits the room with a gesture for the two others to follow him.

"Man..." says Ellie. "Being a realy magician must be fucking awesome. My immunity looks boring next to your magic."

"The right word for me is 'wizard'," answers Harry, "and I think your immunity is much more useful to the world than my magic. You're the secret to creating a vaccine against Cordyceps."

When hearing that last word, Ellie's face twists in disgust. "I really hope it'll work. It would make the world a hell of a lot safer."

"Speaking of magic," Joel adds, "I'm kinda curious about you, kid. You've only joined us yesterday and today we spent out time fightin' those hunters. I never really got an opportunity to ask you some questions."

"What kind of questions?" Harry's tone is ever so slightly suspicious.

"No need to be so damn cautious, kid. I just wanna know a bit more, is all. You might've given us plenty of demonstrations, it still feels kinda strange to know that magic is real. I was never the greatest student back at school, but I did learn a great deal about physics and your magic is a bit hard to accept sometimes. Hell, Ellie's immunity is easier to accept than your magic."

They're heading down the stairs now and heading down to the ground floor. Joel's voice is low in case there are any more hunters around.

"The world is bigger than you think," says Harry. "I think it's normal you'd want to know more."

"What was it like, this magical society?" asks Ellie.

Harry thinks of Ron and Hermione, and of Hogwarts. He thinks of Voldemort, of the Ministry and the Daily Prophet.

"It has its good points and bad points, just like anywhere else," he answers.

They've made it to the ground floor but the door leading out is locked and the lock has rusted with time.

Joel sighs and reaches for one of his shivs to pry open the door.

"No," says Harry, putting his hand on the man's forearm. "Let me do it."

"Are you going to use magic to blast the door open?" asks Ellie excitedly.

Joel winces. "If that's your plan, don't do it. Those damn hunters'll come running."

"No," says Harry, mildly amused. "This spell is a bit more subtle."

He leans down and puts his palm against the old lock.

" _Alohomora,"_ he whispers.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. It takes him four tries, but eventually the lock clicks open.

"Useful," says Joel approvingly. "But I like your floating trick better."

They open the door and get out on the street. The sun is shining and there's a nice breeze. The street is basically one long road that is curiously lacking the amount of abandoned cars Harry usually sees. There are some, but the road is much less clogged than in some other parts of Pittsburgh. The pavement on either side of the road is also on a surprisingly good state, with hardly any cracks, though there are a lot of weeds and moss.

"And there's our bridge," says Joel.

He's looking at the yellow bridge, which seems significantly closer now, though still a fair distance away. If they hurry, they can reach it before sunset.

"Sheesh. I feel like we've been walking all day and we're barely any closer," complains Ellie. "Harry, don't you have teleportation magic or something?"

"I do," answers Harry. "But there's a high risk of leaving a body part behind if I use it. I'd rather not take the risk unless there's no choice."

Ellie grimaces. "That doesn't sound great."

"How about we talk 'bout it later?" proposes Joel, sounding a tad exasperated. "We have to move fast. The hunters all over Pittsburgh are probably well aware of us by now. The faster we get to that damn bridge, the better."

"It's fine," says Ellie, waving a hand dismissively, "you can take them."

"While that's mighty flattering, I'm not Superman."

"Super who?"

Joel starts walking towards the far off bridge, answering as he walks. "It's a comic-book hero. He was the most popular one there was before Cordyceps decimated the global population. He was a hero that fought crime with his superpowers. He was very strong and invulnerable, and he could fly, shoot lazers and freeze things with his breath."

Ellie frowns. "He sounds overpowered."

Joel shrugs. "His enemies were too."

Their discussion is interrupted by the sound of an engine. It is coming closer to the street the three are on.

"Quick, hide!" orders Joel.

They all head for one of the stores lining the street. It is a run-down electronics store that looks like it has been robbed once upon a time. Many of the items it once sold have been ripped off and only some of the heaviest things like large TVs have been left behind. People probably stole batteries and lights because those are more useful than a TV nowadays.

Ellie hides behind a stand covered with laptops while Harry crouches behind an enormous flatscreen TV. Joel is behind the counter where a sales person is usually placed.

As the sound comes nearer, it becomes clear that it's not merely a vehicle approaching. It's a tank.

The thing is intimidating, with barbed wire attached to its sides and a fresh corpse strapped to the front of the vehicle. And behind the tank, there's...

"That's our car!" Ellie exclaims angrily.

Harry gestures for her to stop shouting. _"Shhhh!"_

Unfortunately, it is too late. The tank stops right in front of the store the three are hiding in.

Behind the tank is the pick-up truck Harry, Joel and Ellie had gotten from Bill. Some sort of wire fence has been attached to its doors and armed men are getting out of it, moving towards the store with guns raised.

While the men are still away, Joel moves further back into the store, silently getting his shotgun out.

The tank and the car move came from the same direction the trio came from. That means that to head towards the bridge in order to leave town, Harry, Joel and Ellie must bypass the tank and get in front of it, continuing along the street.

If they get spotted, the small gun tower on top of the tank will shoot them. And with the hunters coming into the store, staying hidden won't be easy.

While the men are coming closer, Harry takes a look at the situation. There are two men in Frank's pick-up truck. The three men coming into the store now are the ones that were sitting in the back of the car. Then there's the tank, though Harry can't see how many people are in it. He might try a _Bombarda Maxima_ on that tank, except he's not sure the spell is powerful enough to utterly destroy the tank. Harry knows that more damaging spells exist, but he can't think of a good one to use right now.

One the left side of the store, closest side to the far away bridge, there are large frames that once held windows. Outside those frames is a small side alley. Harry could go out on that side and see if the alley can be used as an escape path or if it is a dead end. If it is, then on the other side of the alley there is yet another shop with large broken windows that could be snuck into.

It seems Joel has had the same idea, because he begins urging Ellie and Harry that way with hand movements. From what the man manages to say using body language, he is going to attempt to take care of the two hunters while Harry and Ellie head for the next store.

Harry heads over to the broken windows, staying hidden behind abandoned TVs and furniture that once held a wide array of electronics for clients to look at. Ellie is right behind him, holding a knife.

They make it out onto the alley without any trouble, but when Harry turns around he can see the head of one of the hunters coming closer. The alley itself is a dead end with a few dumpsters overflowing with garbage bags. The alley doesn't lead to another street, so he urges Ellie to enter the next shop through its windows, but he doesn't have the time to follow her because the armed man is getting closer.

Harry hides behind the wall, near the edge of the building. He's leaning down and looking at the window, waiting for the hunter to come closer. If he takes more than a step back, he'll be out on the street and in full view of the tank. He'll be gunned down before he can even run for cover.

Just as Harry feared, the hunter jumps out of the window, arriving into the alley. However, through sheer luck, the man first turns to the dead end, approaching the dumpsters there. He's probably looking to see if anyone is hidden behind them.

Harry can see Ellie in the shop near him, looking at him in worry. If he tries to join her, he'll make too much noise and alert the hunter. He can't go out on the street, and he can't go back into the electronics shop.

There's only one thing he can do, and this time Joel isn't there to help him.

Harry takes out his bow. He does it slowly and silently, trying to fight the desire to move fast. He cannot afford to make a mistake right now. He feels sick already, but Ellie is close to him and he knows that if the hunter turns around and sees him, he'll be shot immediately and Ellie probably won't be able to escape.

Once his arrow is set, he aims at the hunter's head, careful to turn his arm so that the string of the bow won't painfully scrape it when he shoots. He's had that happen several times when he was first learning to use the bow.

Carefully aiming, he inhales. Then, he shoots.

The arrow is home-made, so it doesn't fly quite straight. Luckily, Harry is so close to the hunter that it doesn't make a difference. The arrow pierces the man's skull and he falls down. The noise he makes when he crashes into the ground is so loud that for a second Harry is worried the other hunter has heard. Fortunately there is no surprised exclamation coming from the electronics shop. For a second, Harry relaxes and he advances towards the net shop with the intent to join Ellie. Then, he hears the ominous sound of the tank moving.

He turns, surprised, and sees that the tank is rolling forward and the turret is turning to shoot at him. He leaps for the shop with Ellie into it and dives into the window just as the tank starts shooting. He gets down on all fours and hides behind the wall, right beneath the window. He can hear bullets whizzing past and he can hear the sound of the wooden wall at the back of the shop crack from all the impacts.

The shooting stops, and Harry can hear the sound of the tank moving again. It's coming closer and positioning itself in front of the shop so that it has a better angle. Harry crawls over to Ellie, who is hidden behind a piece of furniture that once held pastries of all kinds.

They are in a bakery. Harry is facing the front of the shop, and notices that there is only one large window and a door frame with no door attached. There are less windows than in the electronics store, which means it'll be harder for the tank to aim at Harry or Ellie. Unfortunately, while there are windows set in the right wall where Harry just came in through, there are none in the left wall. That means that Harry and Ellie cannot escape through the side of the shop like they did before and will have to either go back out through where they came from and return to the electronics shop, or go out through the front door.

Instead of feeling terrified, Harry feels annoyed at this hopeless situation, as well as nauseous from what he's had to do in the alley. Killing is a terrible thing to do, and the fact that he feels vaguely happy the man is dead and no longer a threat makes him feel even more guilty. If he continues facing situations like this, he'll probably end up as jaded as Ellie and Joel, who are unfazed by dead bodies and the darkness the world has to offer.

And then, just as Harry is thinking of risking Apparating out of here with Ellie (and most likely getting splinched), Joel arrives.

The man is crouching down, advancing towards Harry and Ellie with a bloody shiv in his hand. Evidently, he has dealt with at least one of the two hunters in the electronics store.

"I've got a plan," he whispers urgently, looking at Harry, "but I need your help. Do you think you can use that exploding trick of yours again?"

"... Yes," answers Harry uneasily. "I just need several tries and a good line of sight."

Joel smirks. "Perfect. Now here's what we're gonna do..."

Joel's idea is simple. He tells Harry and Ellie that while the tank is directly in front of the bakery, the pick-up truck the hunters stole is still in front of the electronics shop with the men inside waiting in case the tank needs reinforcements. So while Joel will be throwing bricks around in the bakery to keep the tank focused on that store in question. Harry and Ellie will stealthily head back into the electronics shop. There, Harry will stay hidden and try to use _Bombarda Maxima_ against the car. He'll have enough times to repeat the spell until it works, as Joel will be distracting the hunters from within the bakery. Ellie will be with Harry so that if a hunter comes into the electronics store, she'll use a distraction to give Harry more time. With the car out for the count, the three companions will be able to fully focus on taking down the tank.

"Will you be okay with this?" Joel asks Harry. "If you blow up that car, the two guys inside will probably die."

Harry doesn't really have a choice. There isn't anything else for them to do. If he wants to survive and help Joel and Ellie live through this, then he has no choice but to agree to Joel's plan. "I'll manage," he responds, knowing that he cannot say that he'll be 'okay' with killing two men.

"Are you _sure_ this is gonna work?" asks Ellie. "That fucking tank will kill you."

Joel sighs. "Do you have a better plan?" Without waiting for her response, he continues: "No? Then shut up and do as I say." He grabs parts of what was once a porcelain plate. "Now, I'm gonna throw this near the front door. When I throw it, you guys go out through the window."

Harry nods and bends down. He starts crawling behind the long counter and already beginning to approach the window.

"Now!" whispers Joel, and he throws the porcelain.

It shatters near the door frame and the tank shoots wildly at the entrance of the bakery. Harry hurries out of the shop and hurries over to the electronics store. The pick-up truck can't see him from here, but the tank can. Luckily, Joel is doing a good job at distracting the hunters inside the tank. Harry and Ellie both manage to enter the store without being noticed.

Ellie stays near the window by the alley in order to keep an eye on Joel and Harry at the same time. Meanwhile, Harry stays hidden behind a TV. He can see the two men sitting at the front of the car, loosely holding their weapons. They seem to be slightly cautious, but not overly so. In fact, from their expressions alone, Harry can tell that they are already feeling smug, sure they'll win this encounter. They don't seem bothered in the least that one of their men lies dead in an alley with an arrow through his skull, or that two others are lying in the electronics store with their throats slit, courtesy of Joel. In fact, it reminds Harry of Joel and Ellie, who never seem that bothered at having to kill people. It seems like Harry with his morals is the outlier in this world.

It doesn't matter. Harry has already killed someone, and he'll have to live with that. He's about to kill again and it makes him feel sick. The only reason why he is not vomiting in disgust is because he knows he needs to help Joel and Ellie so that they can all escape from this difficult situation.

Harry steels himself and starts focusing on magically blowing up the pick-up truck.

Unfortunately, after six tries, Harry still hasn't managed to blow the car up. Ellie is looking more and more stressed, glancing over at the bakery in worry as Joel continues distracting the tank as well as he can.

"Why the fuck is it taking so long?!" she demands in a harsh whisper.

"This isn't my best spell, so stop talking and let me concentrate!" he snaps.

He turns his focus back to the car and tries to use the annoyance Ellie has drawn out of him, turning it on the car. He attempts to see the car as an enemy, something he hates and wants to destroy. With those two hunters inside, it's not a hard thing to do. Until now he's been feeling nervous as he tries to blow the car up. Perhaps a different mindset might help?

 _"Bombarda Maxima!"_ he whispers, trying to inject as much power as he can into the incantation.

The result is instantaneous. The car and part of the street blows up. The front of the electronics stores is blown apart and part of the ceiling starts sagging at a strange angle. The explosion is so powerful that it sends chunks of debris crashing onto the tank, which has stopped shooting the moment the effects of Harry's spell were heard.

Ellie coughs, using her hands to wipe dust off from the explosion. "That was awesome!" she exclaims, no longer keeping her voice down. It seems there's no point. The people in the tank have seen the explosion and are cautious now. They're no longer shooting.

"Do you think they're gonna give up now that they've seen what we did?" she asks.

Harry shakes his head, his narrowed eyes intent on the tank. "No. They're probably more angry than defeated." He pauses, looking to the left as Joel stealthily enters the electronics store through the windows on the side of the shop. "I think they're waiting for our next move."

"Are you two okay?" asks Joel, coming closer to Harry and Ellie.

Ellie coughs again. "I'm fine, and Harry looks alive."

Harry smiles. "I'll feel even better if we get away from here."

Joel looks at Harry, face set in thought. "D'you think you could use your magic trick to blow that tank up too?"

Harry looks over at the tank. "I think I should be-" His eyes widen. _"LOOK OUT!"_  
  
He gets down, pushing Ellie down with him, just as two molotov cocktails come flying into the store, shattering and sending flames everywhere.

Unfortunately, Joel reacted by bringing out his gun instead of getting down, as he didn't have the time to see what Harry reacted to. That means that part of his trousers catch fire.

"Fuckin' hunters!" shouts Joel, hurriedly patting the flames to try and put them out. It doesn't work, and his patting only makes more alcohol spread over him, causing flames to spread.

Harry takes off his backpack and rips it open. In barely a second, he has taken out several small towelettes he usually uses as bandages and is pressing them around the burning area, asphyxiating the flames.

Harry manages to get rid of the flames, though part of the left leg of the trousers is gone, revealing burnt skin around the Joel's ankle.

Harry winces. "Do you think you'll be able to walk?"

Before Joel can respond, Ellie points out at the tank. The turret is opening and someone is leaning out with yet another molotov cocktail.

"Guys? I think we should move away from here."

Joel groans, glaring at the tank. He brings out his rifle and points it at the hunter with the molotov.

"Let's see how they like it," he says, and _shoots_.

The hunter in the tank falls down, dead from Joel's impeccable headshot. The molotov slips from his fingers and breaks open inside the tank, flames spreading everywhere.

Harry can't see it all, but he can easily guess what happens as suddenly the tank shoots forward at surprising speeds, probably due to the panicking driver dealing with the flames inside the tank.

The vehicle's speed just increases until it abruptly turns and crashes into an apartment block, breaking through a wall. Part of the ceiling of the building's ground floor crashes down on top of the tank, which surprisingly doesn't break or bend under the assault.

There is a moment of silence as Harry, Joel and Ellie hold their breath.

"Are they all dead?" asks Ellie.

"If they ain't, then they won't be getting out of that tank any time soon," says Joel. "They're buried under tons of concrete."

Cautiously, he stands up. However, he immediately hisses and takes most of his weight off of his left leg. Blood is leaking out of his burn, staining his boot.

Joel reaches for his backpack, still lying on the floor, and pulls a med-kit out of it. Slowly and painstakingly, he cleans the wound and begins the process of properly bandaging it.

"Keep an eye out in case there's more of 'em," he orders Ellie and Harry.

Ellie and Harry do keep an eye out, but it seems like that tank was the last of the hunters in the immediate area.

"I still can't believe those fuckers stole our car," says Ellie.

Harry gives her a pat on the back. "They probably stole that tank from someone too."

Joel snorts. "That's what hunters do. They kill any travelers that pass through their territory and steal food, weapons and other ressources from the bodies while they're still warm. That's why you won't see any kids or women with those kind of people. Survival of the fittest is how they operate."

Harry frowns. He cannot understand why someone would choose to live like that. He still feels sick at the thought of the hunter he shot an arrow at, and he can't imagine killing people like that regularly. Wouldn't it be more productive for these people to like Bill lived, by growing their own food and maybe keeping animals around and letting them breed, then killing a few for their meat? It seems to be a much more reliable way to acquire food, especially since those hunters can't be sure enough travellers will come by for them to steal food from.

"If they're as self-centered as you say..." says Harry, "then how come they manage to work together? You'd think teamwork would suffer if everyone's a cold-blooded murderer."

Joel narrows his eyes at Harry. "I've been called a cold-blooded murderer by people before and I've killed plenty of people in front of you. Yet you're still here."

Harry reddens. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply-"

 _"Those hunters,"_ continues Joel, voice hard, "are probably here because there's a certain safety in numbers, or there's nowhere else to go. Hell, some of them might be staying in Pittsburgh 'cause it has a nice _atmosphere_. I don't really care." He shakes his head. "Anyway. Survival sometimes makes teamwork easier or harder. For these hunters, it's the first one."

"You know a lot about hunters..." says Ellie. "Didn't you say you used to be one too?"

Joel frowns. "Are all these comments about teamwork being difficult with killers and hunters being self-servin' your way of accusing me of something?"

Ellie shakes her head. "If course not-"

"I trust you. You're a good guy," agrees Harry.

"Hmpf. I wouldn't say 'good'." He turns to Ellie. "You can trust me to bring you to the Fireflies for that damn vaccine. I'll protect you. But as soon as you start doubting me, we'll be that much more vulnerable. So if there's something about me that you don't like, then you'll say it to my face."

"I already knew you'd killed a lot of people, Joel," says Ellie quietly. "Life sucks sometimes, okay? But I'm not here to blame you for what you did in the past. I just need your help to get back to Marlene."

"... I don't have any problem with you," says Harry quietly. "You've been protecting Ellie and I and you've done most of the hard work. I think you're a decent bloke, even if you've done some bad things."

Joel averts his eyes, looking down and again. "You two are good kids, you know that?"

Ellie gives a small smile. "Don't start getting sappy, old man. We still need to get out of this place."

Nodding, Joel looks around. The street is not in a great state due to Harry's explosion and the tank's crash into a nearby building. The damage, however, is not serious enough to make getting to the other end of the street difficult.

"C'mon," says Joel. "Let's head over to that bridge and get out of this city."

They start walking along the road. When they get close to the accident site of the tank, they all start walking a bit faster, palming their weapons in case a live hunter somehow manages to get out of the tank to attack.

There are no more hunters to be seen. Either Joel has killed most of them already, or they're hiding and waiting to trap the trio somewhere. The closer Harry, Joel and Ellie get to the bridge, the more wary they become.

It makes sense to think that all ways in or out of the city would have the most surveillance. The hunters survive by stealing the ressources of people passing through their city. That means that they have to be keeping a sharp eye on the outskirts of the city for potential prey.

As the three travelers get closer to the bridge which leads out of the city, they become more and more cautious, expecting the presence of hunters. They know they won't be able to leave the city without a fight. Joel is constantly on guard, looking around for trouble as they leave the tank behind and make their way closer to the large yellow bridge.

And finally, as they get closer, their caution becomes warranted.

After walking twenty minutes, they get within sight of a large barricade in front of the bridge, blocking anyone from leaving the city.

The barricade is absolutely _full_ of hunters. At first glance, there are around twenty or thirty, all of them armed to the teeth and evidently expecting company. They've been tipped off and know Joel, Harry and Ellie are coming.


	8. Pittsburgh - 4

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Unfaltering Bereavement**

 

 

**.**

 

 

Joel, Harry and Ellie all crouch down to hide behind a car with rotten tires and missing windows.

"Can we take 'em?" asks Ellie. "I don't think we can take on so many people."

"We don't have much of a choice," Joel responds. He looks around, assessing the situation. "I don't think there's any other way for us to access that bridge."

Harry narrows his eyes, staring at the hunters standing guard. "Hmm... maybe we could wait until it's night? There might be less of them later."

"That's unlikely. The more we wait, the more time they have to prepare themselves for our arrival. If they don't know we're coming, then you can be sure they'll know by tonight."

Ellie raises an eyebrow, expression flat. "Great. So we have to take on an assload of hunters and somehow survive? How're we gonna manage that?"

Joel doesn't respond.

They all look out at the scene. There are too many hunters. The barricade itself is a wall with some sort of platform behind it. Some hunters are on the platform, the upper half of their bodies visible. From their position, they can snipe anyone coming too close. Then there are about a dozen hunters in front of the barricade. Most of sitting around a fire, holding out long sticks with what seems to be strips of meat on them. Hanging from a wall is the corpse of a dog. Several hunters are stripping flesh off of it to put on their own sticks for cooking.

Around the group of hunters having their meal are men standing guard, holding mostly small handguns with a few rifles here and there. They're looking around, ready for trouble. Even though the hunters eating are not on their guard, the ones around them _are_.

From what Joel, Harry and Ellie can see, there is no way to sneak past these people. The barricade looks completely sealed and Harry has no idea how they'll pass it. There has to be a door the hunters use to get on the other side, but if it's locked then Harry will probably have to levitate Joel and Ellie over, though as he can't use the spell on himself he doesn't know how he would get on the other side.

"We have to face them," concludes Joel, seeing the same thing Harry does. "Stealth ain't gonna cut it. We'll have to kill to get past them. And once one of them is dead, it won't be long before all the others realize we're here and are on their guard. We need to use the element of surprise to get as many of them as we can from the start."

Ellie's eyes widen. She turns to Harry. "You could use that exploding trick of yours. _Bombaba_ whatever it was. It takes you a while to make it work, but since we haven't gotten spotted yet you've got the time to use that spell and kill as many as you can."

Joel nods. "That would work." He glances over at Harry. "But could you do it, Harry? You made it very clear that killing ain't your thing. Would you be able to do this?"

Harry looks over at the hunters. Some of them are laughing, chatting to their neighbours. Others are eating happily, grateful for a meal in a world were many go hungry. Harry has already killed someone, but could he do it again? He knows that these hunters have killed others and are nowhere near innocent. If Harry refuses to kill them, then Joel will have to do it. Joel is an efficient and talented killer, but even he will have trouble with such a high amount of hunters. There would be more risks if Harry doesn't help. Joel or Ellie would be less likely to make it if Harry doesn't blow up a large number of these hunters in one go.

Harry doesn't want to kill, but he is aware that it has become a necessity in this world. No one cares much for mercy anymore. For Harry, protecting Joel and Ellie is more important than protecting his already tarnished morals. That strong loyalty for two people he hasn't known long but trusts with his life is why he answers:

"I'll do it. Don't worry."

And besides, he has promised to Bill that he would get Ellie to that group called the Fireflies in order to make a vaccine. Thinking of that promise helps lessen the guilt he feels at what he is going to do.

"Good," says Joel. "You'll blow them up, and as soon as that's done I'll get closer and try to shoot the men behind the barricade-"

"I need a gun," says Ellie, interrupting him mid-sentence. "There are too many hunters around here. You can't continue doing most of the work yourself, Joel."

Joel shakes his head. "Ellie, I'm _not_ giving you a gun. Forget about it."

"Why not?" whines Ellie. "It would help our chances if I could actually help!"

"I said I'm not giving you a gun!"

"She has a point," says Harry.

"What?" says Joel, while Ellie exclaims "Really?!"

Joel glares at her and she cringes.

"Sorry," she says, much quieter this time.

"She has got a point," Harry repeats, looking around at the hunters sitting around the campfire. Luckily no one seems to have noticed the trio on the other side of the street. "Giving a gun to a child-"

"I'm not a kid!" protests Ellie.

"-isn't a very good idea," Harry continues, "but she needs to have a way to protect herself if she needs to. And with a gun, she could help us if we get in trouble."

"I am not trusting her with a gun," says Joel firmly. "With Harry's help, we should be able to get rid of all those hunters."

Ellie purses her lips. "But-"

 _"No,"_ says Joel. "I am not taking any risks now. So stop asking before I get angry."

Ellie shuts her mouth, though it's clear she is restraining herself with some difficulty.

Joel sighs. "Now," he continues, "Harry, I want you to target the fire and try to get as many of those guys as you can. If you can damage part of that barricade too, then it would be perfect."

"Because if part of that wall gets blown up, we could pass through there to get to the bridge," Harry realizes.

Joel nods slowly, looking over at the gathering of hunters. "Exactly," he whispers. "Now if you could start immediately, that would be great. I don't wanna wait here a second longer than I have to."

Harry nods and focuses on the scene in front of him. The hunters having their meal are somewhat close to the barricade, so Harry can target part of it and the hunters at the same time. He won't be able to take them all down at the same time, but he'll be able to take at least a third of them out.

A dozen hunters are eating around the campfire. Around thirteen to fifteen hunters are standing guard around the area. There are only four on the other side of the barricade, in position to snipe at any enemies.

Harry is reasonably sure he can take out all those eating and a small part of those standing guard. If he's lucky the blast will take part of the wall down and make the hunters on the other side fall down from their platform and get hurt enough to no longer be a threat. Harry knows he doesn't have that sort of luck.

Harry braces himself and points his hand out at the hunters sitting joyfully around their campfire.

He takes a deep breath and begins to cast the spell.

It takes him four tries to do the spell. He feels like the constant use of it is making him improve very fast. In fact, if he continues using it so often, he might get better at casting it than _Wingardium_ _Leviosa_.

Finally, it works. The campire and part of the ground underneath it blows up. Most of the close-by hunters die immediately while others are thrown back violently. Part of the barricade breaks and chunks of it fall down, exposing one of the hunters on the elevated platform on the other side.

Joel, who appears to have been busy making a molotov cocktail while Harry was casting his spell, throws it immediately after Harry blows some of the hunters up. He aims for the hunters on the ground, the ones standing guard further away that were largely unaffected by Harry's spell. The bottle shatters as it lands and flames spread everywhere.

Most of the men have been taken down and are either dead, unconscious or in no condition to fight back. There seems to be about six or seven hunters left in fighting condition on the ground level, and all those on the platform behind the barricade.

One of the hunters on the ground level is hidden behind a car, holding a rather large gun. He leans out of his hiding place and shoots at the general direction of Joel, Ellie and Harry. It becomes clear that they must separate so they don't make one big target in one place.

Joel starts moving forwards, holding his rifle. Just as the hunter behind the car shoots again, Joel ducks behind a rusty grey car.

Some of the hunters on the platform are trying to aim for Joel, shooting at him from a distance, so Harry points his hand at the barricade they're standing behind and starts chanting:

_"Bombarda Maxima... Bombarda Maxima..."_

It works after two tries. Most of the barricade starts crumbling down. One of the hunters gets caught in it, but the others manage to move away in time.

The platform falls down and only that one hunters dies because of it. The others are now on the ground level too, running over to the nearest hiding places to continue shooting.

Meanwhile, Joel has managed to kill the hunter he's been pitted against. Unfortunately, he's been standing still too long and his shooting has given him away. Another hunter comes up from behind Joel and catches him in a strangle-hold. Joel tries to pull the man's arms away, but the hunter is strong.

"Fucking die!" yells Ellie, running out of her hiding place and over to Joel.

She brings out a pocket knife and stabs the hunter in the side. He starts releasing his grip, but Ellie has already managed to pull her knife out and stab him a second time in the kidney.

Free, Joel turns around and punches the hunter so hard the man is sent sprawling to the ground. Immediately, Joel brings his boot up and stomps on the hunter's face with such force that blood goes everywhere and the man stops moving.

Once Harry is sure Joel will be all right, he focuses on taking out more hunters. There are still too many of them running around and he really wants them taken care of before something happens to Ellie or Joel.

There are several cars around the area and most of the hunters are using those to hide behind. Two hunters are trying to shoot at Ellie from behind a broken-down van, so Harry points his hand at the automobile and focuses on blowing it up.

He can't use another spell because it would make the enemy aware of his supernatural abilities, but if he blows things up the hunters will just assume he planted a bomb there at some earlier moment. So if he wishes to keep his magic a secret, then using spells likes _Bombarda_ instead of _Wingardium Leviosa_ would be preferable.

It takes only two tries for the spell to work. The car blows up, killing the two hunters hiding behind it.

Harry flinches, trying to push past the guilt growing inside him.

Meanwhile, Joel has snuck up behind yet another hunter and decided to choke the man instead of shooting him. The sounds the man makes as he dies of asphyxiation do nothing to help Harry feel better.

Joel brings out his shotgun and shoots at a hunter that has come too close, while Ellie retreats to get further away from the fighting. It's a good idea because without a weapon she is at risk right now.

Joel aims his firearm at yet another hunter, but the man ducks out of sight just as Joel shoots. Growling in annoyance, Joel crouches down and slowly moves closer to the hunter, careful to always stay hidden behind something in order to avoid being shot at.

Harry focuses on some of the other hunters, overwhelmed by their numbers. There seems to be only about ten or less of them still alive, but it's still more than Harry is comfortable with.

Just as he starts uttering the spell to blow up another hunter he has set his sights on, his throat is grabbed from behind.

A hunter has snuck up behind him.

Harry grabs the man's hand, trying to pry it off, but the hunter brings his second hand up, holding a knife. He aims for Harry's throat.

Harry throws himself backward, further into the man's arms and away from the knife, and leans down. The angle the hunter his holding his throat at his awkward now, so Harry manages to rip the hand off. He throws his weight back with force and sends the man tumbling to the ground.

 _"Bombarda!"_ cries Harry, panicked.

He doesn't aim, too frightened to think. Still, it works.

The man's head bursts in a shower of gore, brain matter flying out in all directions. Something gets stuck on Harry's mouth. He doesn't open it, bringing his shaking hand up to wipe the slimy thing away.

He doesn't say anything.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" shouts someone.

Harry turns slowly, blinking blood out of his eyes. He has trouble focusing right, but after a few seconds he sees it.

A man is holding Ellie from behind, a gun at her head. He's looking at Joel and Harry cautiously.

"Drop your weapons or I kill her!" shouts the man.

Harry looks over at Joel. The man is glaring at the hunter, gripping his shotgun tightly.

"Calm down," says Joel, tone deceptively tranquil. "You don't need to do anythin' rash. I'm sure we can come to an understanding."

The hunter rolls his eyes, tightening his hold on Ellie. "Fuck you, man. Do you have any idea how many of us you killed today? I ain't doing shit until you pay for what you did."

Harry expects Ellie to defiantly struggle against the hunter's grip, but instead she is suspiciously docile and compliant. She is staring quite intently at Joel, and Harry can guess that she's waiting for him to give her a signal to act. She expects the man to have a plan.

Unfortunately, based on the way Joel looks, he has no idea what to do.

What can Harry do? He can't blow the hunter up without hurting Ellie, and trying to levitate the man away from Ellie would just end with the hunter shooting her. He could try using magic to immobilize the hunter, but the man is using Ellie as a human shield and is close to impossible to hit with a spell...

Harry can feel cold shivers slithering up his back. His clothes are wet with the fluids of the man he blew up minutes ago and he feels seconds away from screaming.

"I said, DROP YOUR GODDAMN WEAPONS!" shouts the hunter, spittle flying from his mouth.

Ellie grimaces, trying to get a few inches between her and the hunter. It doesn't work, and the man tightens his grip to painful levels.

"Okay!" says Joel, slowly crouching down. He keeps his gaze firmly on the hunter as he places his shotgun on the ground, before standing up again.

"And the other weapons too!" orders the hunter. "Don't think I didn't notice the rifle you were shooting with before! Put it dow-"

A shot rings out and a hole appears on the man's forehead. For a few micro-seconds he looks comically surprised, before he lets go of Ellie and falls down.

He is dead.

Not entirely relieved, Harry spins around to see who saved the day.

There are two people standing several feet away. A man and a young boy. Both have dark skin and similar features. Their clothes are tattered and worn. They are standing close to each other. Brothers, maybe, or a father and his son.

The man is holding a pistol, still aiming it at where the hunter stood. He slowly lowers the gun, looking over at Harry and Joel warily.

"Hey," says the man hesitantly. "It looked like you guys needed a hand."

Joel's face hardens and he takes a step back. "We didn't need your he-"

"That was awesome!" exclaims Ellie loudly, running over to join Joel's side. "I thought I'd be a goner for sure, but you guys just swooped in and _pow!"_ She mimes someone shooting.

The man's face breaks out in a smile. "Well that was nothing. Me and my brother've been trying to find a way past those hunters for a while now. We were planning to wait until it's nightime before taking 'em on, but then we saw you guys storming the place and figured we might as well come help you out."

"Thanks," says Harry. "We were in a bit of a tight spot."

Joel is still glaring at the newcomers warily, so Ellie continues the conversation:

"Who are you guys anyway? Obviously you're not with those hunters."

The man nods. He puts a hand on his brother's shoulder and pulls him closer. "I'm Henry, and this little man's my brother, Sam. We got separated from our group while we were looking for supplies in this city. The hunters caught us off guard, I guess. We're heading to the rendez-vous point where we're supposed to meet up with the rest of our group."

"I'm Ellie," she responds. Then, pointing at Harry, she continues, "and this is Harry, and over there is Joel. We got stuck in this town too 'cause of the hunters so we've been trying to get to that bridge over there." She gestures at the yellow bridge.

The bridge looks massive now, standing only a two-minute walk away. It's their escape way.

"You headed anywhere in specific?" asks Henry.

Ellie hesitates and looks over at Joel. He still seems unhappy, but he answers for her:

"We're looking for the Fireflies."

The little brother, Sam, perks up when he hears that. "You too? We've also been looking for them. Do you know where they are?"

Joel shakes his head. "No, but I know someone who might. We're gonna see him first."

"Can we come too?" asks Sam. "We'd be safer if we all band together."

Henry frowns at Sam. "Now you wait just a little second. We promised the rest of our group that we'd meet them at that radio tower. We can't just run off with the first people we meet and forget about that."

Sam crosses his arms and looks down at the ground. "The others are all dead. It'd be a waste of time to try and find them."

Crouching down to Sam's level, Henry says softly, "You can't be sure of that. If we made it out, then there's a chance the others did, too."

Sam glares. "Annie is three months pregnant and Michael sucks at running. They don't have any weapons or food. _They are dead_."

Ellie takes a step forwards and the attention of the two brothers snaps back to her.

"Where do you have to meet them?" she asks. "If it's on our way, maybe we could all go there together?"

Finally Joel can't seem to stop himself any longer:

"We don't know them," he protests. "Who's to say they ain't waiting for an opportunity to take off with our food and our guns?"

"They saved Ellie," retorts Harry. He looks over at the two brothers. They seem a bit wary now that Joel has made his thoughts clear, but Harry cannot see any hints that they have bad intentions.

"And," adds Henry quietly, "if we were that kind of people, we would've waited until that last hunter killed you, and then we would've shot him. That way we would have gotten your stuff anyway."

Joel looks intently at Henry. Four seconds pass, and then Joel relaxes.

"Fine. We'll go together. Having two more people to watch our back would be better." He pauses, thoughtful. "Where did you say that meeting point was?"

"It's at a radio tower in a small town just outside the city," answers Henry. "I think it would take two to three hours to get there."

Everyone waits for Joel to make his decision. The man looks over at Harry and Ellie, and then scrutinizes the two newcomers. He still seems unsure, but Ellie catches his eye and mouths 'Safety in numbers'.

After a short while, he gives in.

"Sure, why not."

He still seems a bit reluctant, but the way Ellie beams at him afterward seems to make his posture a little less tense.

"D'you guys wanna loot those corpses?" asks Henry, looking around at the bloody area. "'Cause they might have some useful stuff."

Joel narrows his eyes. Two seconds pass.

Finally, he declares, "Five minutes. After that, we're leaving. There might be more of them hunters coming to see why they ain't hearing from their buddies." He pauses. "I suppose helping us out means you can pocket some of the stuff you find."

Henry smiles, his teeth white in contrast with the evening light the sun is casting. "Thanks, man. That's much appreciated."

They all spread out, heading over to the corpses lying around everywhere. Harry finds a dead man with a shotgun. He takes the weapon hesitantly, knowing he won't use it as his aim is bad and the recoil makes everything worse. He would just waste bullets trying to hit a target. It's why he uses a bow or his magic. Nevertheless, he takes the weapon anyway. He knows Joel is always carrying as many weapons as possible but sometimes the man just doesn't have place for more. Perhaps Harry could hold onto this weapon in case Joel runs out of bullets?

If Joel doesn't have any place left for the weapon, then Harry will hold onto it for the man. He certainly won't give it to either Henry or Sam, despite Joel having allowed them to take things they find on the corpses. The two brothers seem like good people, but after seeing all those hunters in Pittsburgh Harry isn't as trusting anymore. He'll keep an eye out just in case the two brothers _do_ turn out to be untrustworthy.

Harry would have given the shotgun to Ellie, but Joel has forbid her from having a gun, which is something Harry can understand. He wouldn't want her to have to shoot people at her age. Still, it seems better to arm her just in case, but he doesn't want to go against Joel's order and create yet another argument. Harry is tired and can still feel the adrenaline rush from when he and the two others faced all those hunters. He really isn't in the mood to argue over whether Ellie should be armed or not.

"Okay," says Joel loudly from further away. "We've been hangin' around long enough. Let's move out before we get company." He looks over at Henry and Sam and mutters, "Well, even more of it."

Sam has clearly heard the comment, but he doesn't say anything. He aims a glare at Joel before walking slowly over to the barricade.

Everyone else heads over there too. The walls of the barricade have been partly torn down from Harry's explosive spell so the group doesn't even have to find a door to get on the other side.

Henry whistles. "What kind of explosives do you guys have? I didn't think it was possible to get anything better than a Molotov these days." He looks at the damage, nodding at the impressive display. "You must've sold your left arm for this kind of firepower. Was it some sorta grenade?"

Coughing uncomfortably, Harry crosses his arms defensively. "Kind of."

They continue walking and get on the other side of the barricade. Harry uncrosses his arms and winces when he realises that he has smeared blood over his hands. He's entirely covered in the blood and bits of flesh belonging to the hunter he blew up.

Harry shivers.

Showers aren't something readily available in this world, but he hopes he'll find some water to wash off in. The blood has soaked through his clothes and he is feeling more and more disgusted as seconds pass.

"Now where do we go?" asks Ellie when they get to the other side.

They are in some sort of grassy area, like a small hidden backyard. To the left Harry can see what was once a Chinese restaurant with two stone lions on each side of the entrance, and to the right are the high walls of an apartment building. Along the walls to the right there is a pavement, but around the restaurant is where the grass is growing. In front of Harry, on the other end of the pavement, there is a police car. Behind it are tall metal doors with a lorry embedded in the left side.

Beyond the lorry and the metal doors is the bridge, now much closer.

"We can't get to the bridge," says Harry. He is already examining the lorry, planning to use levitation to get everyone else up there. The only problem is that he is not entirely sure he trusts Henry and Sam enough to reveal his supernatural abilities. While Joel and Ellie are trustworthy, Harry prefers to avoid telling too many people about his abilities.

"There's a ladder," says Sam quietly.

He points at the lorry, and Harry finally notices a short ladder attached to the top of the side of the vehicle.

Everyone hurries over to it, slightly nervous despite all nearby hunters being dead. Joel positions himself just under the ladder, holding his intertwined hands palms up for Henry to put his foot in. Once the black man is properly settled, Joel hoists him up and Henry grabs the short ladder, climbing up on top of the lorry. Ellie goes next, putting her foot in Joel's palms so that he can pull her higher up. The problem comes when Sam climbs up with Joel's help. The moment the boy grabs hold of the ladder, the thing breaks off and Sam falls back down. Harry manages to catch Sam in time, ensuring the boy does not break something on the pavement.

"Shit," exclaims Ellie.

Joel is unfazed. He holds his hands out again for Sam and the boy puts his foot there again. He climbs up until he is standing on Joel's shoulders rather unsteadily, and his elder brother gets down on his knees to grab Sam and pull him up. The boy manages to get on top of the lorry, smiling in relief.

"Your turn."

Harry's eyes snap back to Joel and he nods. "Yeah."

He approaches the man and puts his left foot in the man's hands. Joel then holds him while standing as still as possible so that Harry can climb onto the man's shoulders. Harry is tall enough to grabs the edge of the lorry, but he cannot get a good enough grip to pull himself up. Henry grabs his forearm and pulls him up the rest of the way.

Only Joel is left.

Henry is a bit hesitant as he looks down at the man. Joel is much taller and broaded than Henry and undoubtedly weighs a lot.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to pull you up," admits Henry.

Harry could use his levitation spell to solve this problem, but he would rather try pulling Joel up before resorting to magic.

"Henry," says Harry, "you and I can crouch down and each grab one of Joel's hands. Ellie and Sam can be on the side to help pull him up if we need to."

A bit dubious, Henry complies.

Once they are both crouching down and reaching their hands out, Joel takes a step back. Then, he runs over to the lorry and leaps up. He manages to grab Henry's hand but not Harry's, and Henry nearly falls over the edge trying to carry Joel's weight.

"Dude, how much do you eat?!" gasps Henry, arm trembling,

Joel's other hand is hanging down, so Harry has to lean down even further to grab a hold of Joel's arm. He holds the man's arm with two hands, fingers near Joel's armpit, and tries to pull him up.

It turns out Joel really _does_ weigh a lot, but with Harry and Henry working together they manage to get Joel up and on top of the lorry.

Henry lets go of Joel's hand and sits down, looking exhausted.

"I really need to work out more," the man grumbles.

Getting down from the lorry on the other side appears a bit difficult because they need to jump from quite a height. Luckily, there is a tree there, though it appears thin and brittle. Harry goes down first, holding onto one of the tree's branches as he jumps. He ends up hanging there as the tree turns out sturdy enough to old him. He manages to grab hold of a branch slightly lower and uses that to jump down to the ground. The landing is a bit uncomfortable, but at least he doesn't break anything.

When Joel goes next, the branch snaps and he falls. He lands on crouched legs and immediately uses his momentum to do a roll before all of his weight can hurt his legs.

"Are you okay?" asks Harry, looking Joel over to be sure he hasn't sprained anything. Because if the man is hurt, then it'll be much harder to travel.

"Fine." Joel stands up, still holding the broken branch.

From the top of the lorry, Ellie asks, "Harry, d'you think you can help me down?"

Harry looks up at her. She's sitting on the edge of the vehicle, legs dangling down.

"Sure," he answers.

He places himself right underneath her and catches her when she jumps. Sam is next, and just as easy to get down. However, next comes Henry, who weighs significantly more.

"I'll do it," says Joel. He pushes Harry to the side gently and takes his place, arms held open.

Henry jumps and all the air is pushed out of Joel as he catches the man around the waist, legs buckling from the weight. Nevertheless, Henry lands safely.

Once everyone is ready, they start walking.

The area they are in is some sort of parking with walls on each side, opening up in the other end to a road that vehicles used to take to drive across the yellow bridge. The group of five doesn't even have to discuss it - they all head over to the road and walk towards the bridge. They leave the parking lot behind and approach the large bridge. On their right is the water of a large river. On their left is a large wire fence separating them from the road parallel theirs for cars going in the opposite direction.

They jump over a blue police line and continue walking. There aren't many vehicles yet, but as they get closer to the centre of the bridge there are more and more obstructions. They pass a large bus that appears to have come from the other side of the wire fence. It has crashed through it and onto the road Harry and his companions are walking on, leaving only a small space to the right for the group to pass.

However, the real problem arrives when they get to the other side of the bus, and see what was hidden from view until now.

"Shit," Henry swears.

The bridge is broken. There's a gaping hole about as long as the bus they just passed, with broken metal beams coming out of the underside of the road. It's impossible to jump across the distance.

It seems there isn't a way to leave Pittsburgh.

"Should we go back and find another way out of the city?" asks Ellie hesitantly. "Maybe we could find another way out?"

Joel grimaces. "I'm not too keen on returning to the city. We killed so many hunters that the ones left are gonna be out for blood. It's best not to go back there until things have calmed down."

"Then what do we do?" asks Sam. The boy is looking down at the churning waters of the river below with slight fear. The long drop seems to make him nervous.

"Well..." says Henry, looking down at the water too. "We could jump down and swim to the shore."

Turning around brusquely, Ellie glares at him. "I can't swim. So your genius plan ain't gonna work."

The man deflates. "Oh. Well, then we don't have much of a choice. We need to go back the way we came."

But Harry has another idea in mind. He is looking at the road parallel theirs, on the other side of the wire fence. While the road on that side also cuts off abruptly where the bridge is broken, there are still some large metal beams on the far left side of that road that are intact. One of the yellow beams even crosses over to the other side.

"What about that?" he proposes, pointing at the far-off metal beam. "That thing's intact, even if the road isn't there anymore. We could find a way to get to the other side of fence on that other road and climb onto that thing. We should be able to cross that way."

Joel examines the metal beam thoughtfully. "It looks thick enough to hold under our weight even if it's been spending the last two decades rusting. We might fall off if we get unlucky, but it should be fine."

"Fall off," repeats Sam, eyes wide as he looks down at the river. His face has gone white.

"The chances of that happening are small," says Joel dismissively.

Henry grasps Sam's shoulder and shakes him. "Hey, man up. You're not gonna fall. What do I always tell you?"

Sam crosses his arms, expression grumpy. "We don't have time for useless fears." His tone is rote. He has clearly had to repeat this many times.

Henry nods decisively. "Yeah, that's it. Now we're gonna go walk on that metal thing and get to the other side and I don't want to hear any of your whining, got it?"

"Yes." Sam looks defeated and unhappy.

Getting to the other side of the wire fence is difficult. Luckily, the fence has been significantly torn right where the bridge breaks and has a gaping hole. There is a narrow path of loose asphalt right near the edge of the broken bridge that they can use to pass. The ground looks like it'll give any minute and more pieces will fall down in the river, so each person who crosses over to the other road has to hold the hand of the person behind them as they take the step to the other side, just in case they fall.

Joel and Sam go first, and when it's Harry's turn to go a piece of the ground gives out underneath him and he slips. Joel grabs him and pulls him over to steady ground. Henry and Ellie manage to pass without any problems, and the group of five ends up on the other road without anyone falling into the water.

"Who goes first?" asks Ellie, looking at the metal beam.

After a moment of hesitation, Harry steps forward. "I will."

The beam is as wide as his forearm is long. It's not _that_ narrow and the only reason walking on it seems more daunting than it is is because of the very long drop if he falls.

He steps up onto the metal beam and looks across the large gap where the bridge is broken to the other side. That side of the road is curiously devoid of cars. Taking a deep breath, he makes his way forward.

 

 

**.**

 

 

**END ARC TWO - PITTSBURGH**

 

 

**.**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annie and Michael, the two people Sam names, are canon characters that only appear in one scene. They are those two innocent people running away from the tank and they get gunned down while Joel and Ellie, who are hidden inside a building, witness it all. Then the hunters search through the corpses and exclaim that there is nothing of value.
> 
> I believe they were originally part of Henry and Sam's group so I gave them names and tied them in with the story by having Sam mention them.


End file.
